Comfort
by ErinXx
Summary: Set in Season two, just after Haley left Nathan to go on tour.Brooke lets Nathan know that she's there for him. Everything that has happened so far still happened but I have changed the timeline of the order that things happen slightly since.
1. Chapter 1

Nathan slammed the basketball he had been holding against the back board at the river court. He liked the thump the ball made when it first made impact with the wood; he liked to imagine that it was Chris Keller's head that he was throwing it at.

Sighing, Nathan caught the ball as it came back down and just started dribbling it around. The river court was where Nathan felt himself coming all the time these days, probably because it was one of the only places that didn't directly remind him of Haley.

Haley James; the girl that had changed his life so much that he barely recognized the person he used to be, Haley James; the girl that had torn his heart out when she left him to go on tour with some soppy ballad writing punk that talked about himself in the third person.

Nathan threw his ball at the backboard again in frustration, why did she leave him? He tried his best to give her everything, he didn't go to High flyers so that she could pursue her dreams, and how does she repay him? By leaving him! And the fact that she kissed Chris before she left made him so angry he could barely breathe.

Nathan slammed the ball against the backboard once more, but didn't bother waiting for it to come back down, instead, he went over and sat in the bleachers and put his head in hands. Which is why he didn't hear the footsteps until they were right next to him.

"Hey Nate." A soft voice said timidly as the footsteps stopped.

Nathan looked up briefly and narrowed his eyes. "What do you want Brooke?" he said.

If she was, Brooke didn't seem disconcerted by his bluntness; she just sat down next to him. "I wanted to see how you were doing."

Nathan looked at the sincere look in her eyes and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just not really good company right now."

Brooke smiled slightly. "That's understandable." She said. "I just wanted you to know that if you ever needed to talk..." she trailed off.

Nathan took that in. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad to have someone to talk to. Peyton had he own troubles with Jake and he could barely tolerate how Lucas seemed to be taking over his stance in his old family structure, having someone else that wasn't so connected to the situation might be good.

"Thanks." He said finally. A small smile on his face.

"Anytime." Brooke said, her voice friendly, she placed her hand gently on Nathans shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze before getting up.

"Brooke?" Nathan said as Brooke started to walk away.

"Yeah?" Brooke asked, turning around to face him again.

"Did you know that she kissed Chris?" Nathan asked, his voice breaking slightly on Chris's name.

Brooke shook her head slightly. "Not until you did." She said, tilting her head to the side a little.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, well she did. She told me nothing was going on... but she was out there kissing Chris." He said angrily.

"Nathan..." Brooke started, not sure what to say to that.

"I told her that if she left to go on tour, if she left with Chris that we were over." Nathan continued, his tone gone from the angry tone of the last sentence to just plain sad.

Brooke walked back over to the bleachers and sat down next to him again, still not sure what to say.

But before she could think of something, Nathan looked at her, his eyes full of pain.

"I didn't mean it Brooke!" He said. "But she left anyway."

The way that Nathan's voice broke on the last few words of his sentence broke Brooke's heart.

"I'm so sorry Nathan" She said, instinctively putting her arm around his shoulder.

Nathan leant into her, glad for the comfort, as she wrapped her other arm around his front.

Later that night Brooke was sitting in her room thinking about Nathan. She was glad that she was able to be there for him, they had always been friends because of his and Peyton's contently tremulous relationship, but not the kind of friends that sat down for huge deep and meaningfuls.

But then again, they had both changed a lot in the last few years, Brooke knew that Nathan thought that it was completely Haley that had changed him into a better guy, but in her opinion she thought he always had the potential to be one of the good guys.

Brooke was sick of guys that thought they could just walk all over her, guys that either lied to get in her bed, or lied to get in her heart. Brooke knew very well that Nathan used to be one of those guys that would lie to get in a girls bed, but she completely believed that he wasn't like that anymore, she had saw the broken look in his eyes and had almost felt like she was looking in a mirror when she was talking to him that afternoon.

Brooke sighed as she looked out her window onto the street that she knew that Felix was probably sitting outside on, hoping that she'd come out.

Going out with Felix had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she just couldn't stop thinking that he wasn't the right guy for her.

Brooke sighed and walked over to her dressing table where her campaign speech was sitting.

"You think you know me. But you don't." She said to her reflection. "Which means you don't know what I can do.

Brooke was walking through the hall when she saw Nathan sitting outside the principal's office, his bag on the floor and a beer in his hand.

"You know." She said as she got closer to him, "I may be wrong, but you're not actually allowed to drink alcohol at school."

Nathan got a small smile on his face when he saw it was her.

"I've got another if you want." He said, pulling a second beer out of his bag.

Brooke laughed. "Maybe another time." She said

Nathan smiled, but before he could say anything the door to the principal's office opened and he came out.

"Scott. You can come in now." He said sternly, holding the door open for Nathan.

Nathan smiled slightly at Brooke and got up.

"See ya later Brooke." He said before walking in the office,

Brooke stared sadly after him. "Yeah, later." She said softly.

Brooke was elated! She'd won the election and was now president. It was Friday already and Felix was away on a cruise and Peyton was busy with Jake so she hadn't celebrated much yet, but she was in a good mood anyway and when she saw Nathan walking towards her she instinctively smiled hugely. "Hey Nate, did you hear?"

Nathan smiled in spite of the fact he was in a really bad mood. "Yeah, well done Brooke." He said.

Brooke smiled back. "Thanks!" she said.

Nathan looked at her for a second and then something caught his eye that made him narrow his eyes.

Brooke turned to see what he was narrowing his eyes at and saw Felix heading towards them.

Nathan groaned. "You're not still dating this jerk are you Brooke?" He asked.

Brooke turned back to Nathan and frowned. "He's not really as bad as he seems." She said.

"Hey baby." Felix said as he got closer and wrapped his arms around Brooke's waist.

Brooke threw Nathan an apologetic look and turned around to face Felix. "How was your trip?" she asked.

"Terrible." Felix answered. "I spent the whole thing missing you."

Nathan rolled his eyes.

Felix looked up just in time and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I got you a present Brooke" He said, holding up a small bag.

"Ooh give me!" Brooke cried, grabbing the bag and looking at the contents.

When she saw what was in there she glanced at Nathan and quickly closed the bag.

"What's wrong Brooke?" Felix asked, looking meaningfully at Nathan. "I thought you'd like Chris Keller's first single, you knew him didn't you?"

Nathan stared at Felix for a second before walking off in the other direction.

Brooke glared at Felix. "You're a jerk!" She exclaimed. She stuffed the CD and the bag against his chest and ran after Nathan.

Nathan stopped and turned around when he heard her calling after him. "Guys a jerk Brooke." He said.

"I know." Brooke said quietly. "He's an asshole for doing that. He's just... really protective."

Nathan scoffed. "What, he thinks he needs to protect you from me by being a jerk?"

Brooke sighed. "I don't know, it's like a defence mechanism. "

"It's only defence if I did something to him." Nathan replied angrily.

Brooke looked down. "I know, I'm sorry."

Nathan sighed. "It's not your fault." He said. "Look Brooke, I've got to go, but seriously. You could do a lot better than that jerk."

Brooke smiled sadly and nodded, watching Nathan walk away for the second time in two days.


	2. Chapter 2

Brooke was lying on her bed later that day when Felix walked into her room.

"Don't you think that eleven unreturned phone calls is a pretty good sign I'm not talking to you?" She asked, glaring at him.

Felix just grinned. "I'm sorry Brooke; really, I thought Nathan would have more of a sense of humour."

Brooke fixed him with a dirty look.

Felix sighed and his face got serious."Look Brooke, I really am sorry, can we just forget it, please? I have another surprise for you."

Brooke felt herself thawing a bit.

"Oh yeah?" She asked, cocking her eyebrow slightly.

"Yeah." Felix replied. "I'm throwing my girl a 'congratulations on getting president' party."

Brooke grinned and jumped off her bed. "A party? For me?" she exclaimed.

"Well yeah, you have to celebrate sometime." Felix said.

Brooke squealed slightly. "Yay!" She said, throwing her arms around Felix's neck.

Nathan was still reeling from what a jerk Felix was when he was cooking himself some tea that night. He couldn't believe that Brooke could be with someone that was such an asshole. But then again, he used to be like that, saying things that he knew would cut someone just to see the look on their faces, but for some reason he just didn't want someone that was like that to be with Brooke. Strange as it was, he felt an almost protectiveness to the only person who had made an effort to be there for him in what would have to be up there as one of the worst weeks of his life. Sure, Lucas had come around and tried to talk to him on several occasions, but Nathan just didn't want to talk to him about Haley.

In fact, Brooke was the only person that he could actually tolerate talking to about anything right now.

A knock on the door broke Nathan out of his thoughts, quietly he walked over to the door and looked through the peep hole, if it was anyone like Lucas or his mum or dad, he really couldn't be bothered seeing them, but when he saw who it was, he quickly opened the door.

"Hey." Brooke said as she walked past Nathan into his apartment. "I just came by to apologize again for Felix and to invite you to my party tonight."

Nathan closed the door behind her and sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I'm really not that great company at the moment Brooke." Nathan said.

"I know." Brooke replied. "But I'll be there, and Peyton, Lucas, Tim... Plus, there's gonna be free alcohol." She said, lightheartedly.

Nathan laughed. "I might think about coming over later. Where is it?"

"Um... Felix's house." Brooke replied hesitantly.

Nathan groaned. "Why the hell would I want to go there?" He asked.

"I'm just putting it out there." Brooke replied quietly. "You don't have to come; I just think it might be good for you."

Nathan smiled slightly. "Well thanks. I'll think about it."

Brooke smiled back and squeezed Nathans arm reassuringly. "Well I have to go get ready, but I hope to see you later." She said, before practically bouncing out the door.

Nathan stood for a few moments after she left with a smile on his face, something that felt foreign for him lately, but Brooke's way of cheering him up every time he had been in a bad mood for the last week amazed him.

Later that night Nathan was sitting on his couch considering going to Brooke's party for a little while when his mobile that was sitting on the arm next to him started ringing.

Looking down, Nathan's heart skipped a beat when he read the caller ID.

"Shouldn't you be out trashing a hotel room or signing autographs for fans?" He said more curtly then he planned to, into the phone.

"Nathan..." Haley's voice said back, pain evident in it.

Nathan closed his eyes as the now familiar pain tugged at his heart at the sound of her voice.

"What do you want Haley?" He finally managed to say.

Nathan heard Haley sigh on the other end of the phone before she continued.

"I just rang to tell you that I'm going to be on TV tomorrow..." She said.

Nathans eyes sprung open, was she serious?!

"_That's_ what you're calling for?" Nathan said incredulously.

"Nathan..." Haley started.

"I haven't heard from you in a week and a half, and then when you finally decide to call, you're ringing to tell me you're going to be on TV?" Nathan interrupted.

There was a pause before Haley continued. "Nathan, I don't want it to be like this, please tell me what I can do to make this better." She said, her voice almost pleading.

"There's nothing you can do." Nathan replied, his voice emotionless. "It was your choice to leave, and now you have to live with that."

Nathan hung up the phone and threw it on the floor.

After everything they had been through, he couldn't believe that the first time Haley had called him was to tell him that she was going to be on TV! Nathan jumped off the couch and grabbed his keys, and the bottle of scotch he had hidden underneath the sink. He needed more alcohol and he didn't care that it was Felix's house he was heading to, he needed to talk to Brooke.


	3. Chapter 3

Brooke sat on the edge of the couch in Felix's lounge room and tried not to look bored. She knew that Felix had thrown this party for her, but all together she had recognized about three people so far.

"Hey Brooke."

Brooke looked up to see Lucas standing in front of her, a half empty drink in his hand.

"Hey you!" She said, standing up and giving him a hug. "I'm glad you came."

Lucas smiled. "You had free refreshments!" He said with a laugh, holding up his drink. "Uh, hey Brooke, how's Nathan doing?"

Brooke was a little taken back at that question.

"You haven't talked to him lately?" She asked.

"I try to." Lucas replied. "But he hasn't been very happy with me since I moved in with Dan."

Brooke nodded.

"And I've noticed that you guys have been hanging out a bit lately." Lucas continued. "So I was just wondering..."

Before Lucas could continue, shouting overpowered their conversation.

"That sounds like Felix." Brooke said apologetically to Lucas. "I better go see what's going on.

"I'll go with you." Lucas said, following her to where the shouting was coming from.

When they got around the corner near the door they found Felix and Nathan in a shouting match.

"This is _my_ house and I can decide if I don't want someone here!" Felix was yelling.

"And I don't give a fuck what you want, I want to come in!" Nathan yelled back, he had obviously been drinking, he was holding an almost empty bottle of scotch.

"Well I don't care what you want! Get out of my house!"Felix tried to push Nathan out the door a bit, but Nathan was too strong for him.

"I don't know if you remember this because you don't actually ever seem to think with anything on the top end of your body, but this isn't your party! It's Brooke's, and she told me to come." Nathan said.

This obviously boiled Felix's blood. "Why would my girlfriend want you at her party?"

Brooke went to step forward but Lucas held her back, by this time a huge group of people had gathered around the door and were watching the fight play out.

"I suppose anything is a better alternative than spending time with you." Nathan replied.

The crowd snickered.

"Oh, don't think I don't know what this is about." Felix yelled, looking like he was about to explode. "Your slut of a wife ran off with another guy and so you think you can make yourself feel better by getting drunk and having a crack at my girl because she's easy."

There was about a two second beat before Nathan's fist was connecting with Felix's jaw.

"That's for calling Haley a slut!" He yelled angrily.

Felix stumbled backwards a little bit but remained standing, until Nathan's second punch threw him off guard.

"And that." He said as Felix fell to the floor. "Is for calling Brooke easy."

Felix jumped to his feet and punched Nathan hard in the face and then swung back as if he was about to punch him again when Brooke broke free of Lucas's hold and ran forward so that she was standing in front of him.

"You touch him and I will make sure you regret it Felix, I'm not kidding." She said, staring up at him, her eyes hard.

"Brooke..." Felix started, obviously unaware that she had heard everything that was just said.

"I don't want to hear it." Brooke broke in angrily. "We're over."

Felix stared at her angrily before stalking off towards the lounge room, half of the party following him.

Brooke turned around to where Nathan was barely standing. She grabbed Nathan's keys out of his pocket and turned to Lucas.

"Luke, help me get him down to his car." She said.

Lucas nodded and put Nathan's arm around his shoulder. Brooke did the same with the other arm and the helped him outside to his car.

"Thanks Brooke." Lucas said. "I can take him home if you want."

Brooke shook her head and held up Nathan's keys. "Nah, it's ok. I haven't been drinking at all tonight." She said, pointing to the drink in Lucas's hand.

Lucas looked down at the cup and smiled at Brooke. "Forgot about that." He said. "Ok, well message me when you get him home so that I know that your both ok." He said.

"I will." Brooke smiled.

Brooke got in the driver's seat of Nathan's car and made sure that Nathan's seatbelt was done up before taking off.


	4. Chapter 4

Ten minutes later they got to Nathan's apartment.

Brooke got out first and shut the driver's door before going round to the passenger side and helping Nathan out of his car. She helped him up the stairs and into the apartment where he semi collapsed on the couch, the empty bottle of scotch falling beside him.

Brooke leaned over and gently touched the cut above Nathan's eye. "Let me get something for that." She said.

"Top of the medicine cabinet." Nathan said quietly.

Brooke walked into the bathroom and got some disinfectant and cotton balls out of the medicine cabinet before going back into the lounge room and sitting on the couch next to Nathan.

"Here, let me..." She trailed off as she cupped Nathan's face in one hand and cleaned the wound above his eye with the other.

Nathan winced as the disinfectant soaked into his wound and he closed his eyes.

Brooke put two little white bandages on to keep the cut together and smiled at her handiwork. "There you go." She said.

"Sorry about all that." Nathan said quietly.

Brooke grimaced. "You're not the one that should be apologizing Nate." She said gently.

"I know, but I shouldn't have come." Nathan said. "I knew it would probably cause trouble." He sighed.

Brooke shook her head. "As you said, it was my party, and I asked you to come, you had as much right to be there as anyone, including Felix!" She replied.

Nathan smiled.

Brooke smiled hesitantly. "If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to come?" she asked.

Nathan looked down for a second then back up into Brooke's eyes. "I got a call from Haley." He said. "The first since she left."

Brooke grabbed Nathan's hand quickly and squeezed it. "Nate, that's great!"

Nathan sighed. "Yeah, the first time she's called me since she left, she called to tell me that she was going to be on TV and that she wanted me to watch."

Brooke groaned inwardly. "Oh Nathan!" She said when she saw the pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry." She said, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

Nathan pulled his hand away abruptly and jumped up. "How could she do that?" He asked Brooke. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "She left me. She walked out on our marriage, and the first time I hear from her is for to tell me that she's going to be on TV."

Brooke looked down at her hands, not sure what to say.

Nathan picked up the empty bottle of scotch that had been sitting on the floor since he dropped it when he came in.

"I gave up so much for her Brooke!" He said his voice angry.

"I know." Brooke replied soothingly, trying to calm him down a bit.

"And she left! She cheated on me and she left!" Nathan yelled and threw the bottle at the wall.

Brooke instinctively flinched and ducked her head but it turned out to be an educated shot on Nathan's part, shattering on the other side of the apartment into a million pieces. Brooke automatically jumped up and grabbed both of Nathan's hands. "Is wrecking everything you can really going to make you feel better?" She asked quietly.

Nathan looked down, but didn't pull away this time.

"I just want it to go away Brooke." He said quietly, looking into her eyes. "I don't want it to hurt anymore."

Brooke looked up at him sincerely. "I know exactly what you mean." She said quietly.

Nathan cocked his eye brow and gave an almost smile. "You're wife cheated on you with pretty much a stranger who, you know, just happened to be an asshole that could give her the chance of a lifetime to pursue her music career?" He asked in a half joking voice.

Brooke smiled wryly. "Take out the marriage and the music parts, but instead of having your partner cheating on you with a stranger, try having them cheat on you with your best friend..."

It was Nathan's turn to give Brooke's hands a reassuring squeeze. "That does gotta suck... They really hurt you hey?" He asked.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah."

"But you're over it now... you've forgiven them both? How did you do it?" Nathan asked, his hands still in Brookes.

Brooke smiled sadly. "It took me a long time to stop hurting Nate, I still haven't fully, I don't think I'll ever really be 'over it' But I have forgiven them." She said shrugging her shoulder. "You've just got to give it time."

Nathan smiled thoughtfully. "Thanks Brooke." He said finally, letting go of her hands and walking back over to the couch.

Nathan sighed. "So, did you hear about Keith?" He asked, wanting to change the subject.

Brooke smiled. "Yeah, isn't it great?" She said.

"It's not going to last." Nathan replied bitterly. "Marriage is overrated."

Brooke stared down at him sympathetically for a second but couldn't contain herself for longer than that and burst out laughing, quickly she recovered until she saw the hurt look on Nathan's face and collapsed in giggles again.

Nathan was hurt initially, but when he noticed Brooke couldn't stop laughing, he actually cracked a smile. "What's funny?" He asked.

"You!" Brooke replied, finally catching her breathe. "Marriage is overrated" She mimicked in an exaggerated male sounding voice. "You're so melodramatic!"

Nathan had to grin at her bluntness, leave it to Brooke to say exactly what she was thinking.

Brooke grinned back, glad that she had got a smile out of him.

"I am happy for Keith though. He deserves to be happy." Nathan said.

Brooke smiled. "I agree! He's such a great person. Too bad that him and Karen didn't end up together though." She said.

Nathan shrugged. "Yeah... I guess." He said.

Brooke studied Nathan for a second. "Speaking of... what's going on with you and Lucas?" she asked carefully.

Nathan shrugged. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Lucas just said tonight that he hadn't talked to you for awhile.. I was just wondering if you were avoiding him for some reason." Brooke continued.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Have you seen him lately Brooke?" He asked. "He's living with my parents, in my house, god, he probably even wears my clothes sometimes..."

Brooke laughed. "Oh... and you're resentful because that was your life and you feel like Lucas is taking over it?" She asked.

"Kinda..." Nathan admitted with a smile. "It's not like I want that life back exactly..."

"You just don't want Lucas to have it..." Brooke finished for him, nodding her head.

"Yeah..." Nathan said. "Does that sound stupid?"

"Kinda..." Brooke replied, getting a laugh out of Nathan. "But I'd feel exactly the same if I was you." She finished.

Nathan shrugged. "It just annoys me to see him acting all happy families... with my family!"

Yeah..." Brooke said nodding her head sympathetically. "He really does just want to help you though." She said cautiously.

Nathan shrugged. "I guess... just having trouble tolerating him lately." He said.

Brooke nodded and felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, quickly she pulled it out and looked at the caller I.D. "Speak of the devil." She said, flipping it open a putting it to her ear.

"Hey Luke what's up." Brooke said into the phone.

"I was just wondering how Nathan was" Lucas relied from the other side of the phone. "You didn't get back to me.

Brooke winced; remembering that she'd promised Lucas that she would message him to let him know everything was alright,

"Sorry Luke... I forgot." She said quickly.

Nathan rolled his eyes at her from the couch and she had to turn around to keep from laughing.

"You still at Nathan's?" Lucas asked. And almost jealous tone in his voice.

"Yeah. " Brooke replied, wondering whether Lucas sounded jealous because Nathan was spending time with her or because she got to spend time with Nathan.

"You there Luke?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah..." I'm here..." Lucas relied, his voice a little strained. "But uh, I have to go, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok." Brooke said clicking her mobile closed; curious as to why Lucas was acting so strange.

Brooke spun around to face Nathan who was still sitting on the couch smirking at her.

Brooke grinned, "What's with the smirk?" She asked.

Nathan laughed. "Lucas is jealous isn't he?" He asked. "You've been spending all your time with me lately. And he's jealous..."

Brooke grinned. "Don't act pleased about it or anything..." She said.

Nathan just grinned at her.

Brooke couldn't help grinning back.


	5. Chapter 5

**I ****have been getting such nice feedback, and I'd like to thank everyone that had commented**** I'm really glad that you all like this story. ****I really wanted to do a story where Brooke and Nathan are there for each other over their breakups and become really good friends... and maybe something more (winks) I don't want Nathan to jump into something with Brooke right away because I honestly don't think that Nathan would get over Haley that quickly, but that said, we'll just see what happens... ( Thanks again to everyone that had commented and I love feedback so please keep it up ( ****- Erin Xx**

**It's a bit of a long one this time, so let's**** back to the story:**

The next couple of weeks flew by as Brooke juggled school, her presidential duties and spending time with Nathan. She would go over to his apartment and they would usually go for a walk or just sit on his couch playing video games and talking. She really liked having him as a friend since Peyton seemed to be busy with Jake these days.

Brooke was walking into the school down the hall towards her next class when she spotted Peyton walking a bit in front of her.

"Hey best friend." She said, gaining speed so that she was walking next to Peyton and linking arms with her. "Feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

Peyton grinned at her. "I could say the same about you Miss President." She said. "Forget all the little people now you're so high up?"

Brooke laughed. "Don't pretend you haven't been equally busy playing house with Jake Jagowski." She said, poking Peyton in the side with her free hand.

"Oh yeah?" Peyton retorted. "From what I hear, _you've_ been playing house with Nathan Scott."

Brooke laughed when she saw her best friends mockingly raised eyebrows. "This is what it's come to? You listening to idle gossip to find out what I've been doing? Peyton, you have officially failed the best friend test on all levels!" She said.

Peyton laughed. "No but seriously, I'm really glad he has someone to talk to... I was getting worried about him for awhile..." She said.

Brooke shrugged modestly. "Hey, I'm just glad that I can be there if he needs someone to talk to."

It was Peyton's turn to poke Brooke in the side this time. "Well, look at you; you're really taking this president thing seriously..." Peyton joked. "If you start kissing babies I'm out of here though..."

Brooke laughed. "Ha ha! Look, I have to go now, but come over later ok? I know it's a Friday night, but do you reckon you could break yourself away from Jake to come and spend some time with your best friend?" She asked jokingly, waited for Peyton's nod of agreement before giving her arm a quick squeeze and headed to class.

Brooke was laying face down on her bed reading a magazine when Peyton got there that afternoon.

"Hey P. Sawyer." Brooke said, sitting up on her bed so that Peyton could sit next to her.

Peyton sat down. "B. Davis." She said with a mock formality. Then when she saw the look on Brooke's face she put her hand on Brooke's arm. "What's wrong?"

Brooke sighed. "Nathan was just over here... he rang Haley yesterday, just to talk... and she didn't answer... for the third time this week."

Peyton looked down at Brooke's bedspread. "That makes me angry." She said, finally looking up.

Brooke nodded slowly. "I mean, I love tutor wife and everything, and I'm so proud that she is making something of herself... but I just wish it didn't leave Nathan so sad.

"Does she even care?" Peyton asked angrily.

Brooke nodded. "I'm sure she cares Peyton..." She said.

"Does she?" Peyton asked, the angry tone not leaving her voice. "She has a really funny way of showing it." Peyton grabbed one of Brooke's pillows and put it in front of herself.

"I mean..." She continued. "She kisses Chris. And then leaves with him... it makes you wonder..."

Brooke looked down at her hands for a second then back up at Peyton. "All I know is that Haley and Nathan have gone through a lot, and I'm pretty sure that she loves him as much as he loves her." She said.

Peyton rolled her eyes. "All **I** know is that she better come home soon."

Brooke nodded thoughtfully.

The next day, Brooke was laying on her bed thinking about what she and Peyton had been talking about when her door opened and Nathan walked in.

"Hey Nate..." Brooke said, sitting up.

"Hey..." Nathan replied, looking his usual cheerful self.

Brooke looked at him sympathetically. "We really need to do something about you" She said, jumping up, grabbing Nathan's hand and dragging him out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later they were down at the river court and Brooke had a basketball in her hands.

"Ok." She said in a determined voice. "We're going to have some fun."

Nathan couldn't help smiling. "You're going to play basketball with me?" he asked.

Brooke screwed her face up. "No!" She replied. "Don't be silly"

Nathan laughed.

Brooke held the ball up.

"We're going to play that game where you shoot the ball at the hoop, and if you miss you have to tell the other person a secret about yourself." She said, aiming the ball at the hoop and throwing it up.

It bounced off the backboard and rolled back to Brooke.

"Something tells me that you're going to know a lot about me by the end of the night. She grinned.

Nathan laughed and caught the ball when Brooke threw it at him, then easily aimed it at the basket and go it in, catching it flawlessly when it came back down.

"You're turn." Nathan grinned at Brooke, throwing her the ball.

Brooke caught the ball and groaned.

"What have I got myself into?" She said out loud, aimed the ball at the basket and shot to the sound of Nathan laughing.

"Haley's sister!" Brooke cried out. "You're first time was with Haley's sister?"

Nathan couldn't help but laugh at her outraged tone.

"Hey, I didn't even know who Haley was then." Nathan shrugged.

Brooke laughed. "Small world..." she mused.

Nathan nodded.

Brooke crossed her legs and tuned around on the asphalt so that she was facing Nathan more.

They had given up on their game after an hour of Brooke telling him lame secrets about herself like how she had an imaginary friend when she was little who would always steal the chocolates from her mother's drawer. But Brooke got sick of being the only one that kept missing, so they sat on the court and started spilling secrets.

Nathan grinned at her. "You're turn." He said.

Brooke smiled. "On a more serious note..." She started. "I've been with a lot of guys... But Lucas was the first guy I ever loved." She said, almost sadly.

Nathan smiled sadly back at her.

"Me too..." He said finally.

"What, Lucas was the first guy you've ever loved?" Brooke joked.

Nathan laughed. "No, Haley. She's the first girl that has ever meant anything to me. The first girl I have ever really loved." He said. "She changed my life Brooke."

Brooke nodded sadly.

"I was an asshole before I met her." Nathan continued.

Brooke laughed. "Yeah, I know... You were." She replied.

Nathan grinned. "And the girls that I slept with then... they didn't mean anything to me compared to Haley." He said.

Brooke went slightly red at that comment and looked away.

Nathan thought about his last comment and cleaned his throat. "No offence..." He said quickly.

Brooke had to laugh at the awkwardness of the situation.

"Do you remember much...?" She asked.

"Uh... not really..." Nathan answered. "I never thought we'd ever talk about it again." He said with a nervous laugh.

Brooke laughed at how flustered he was getting. "It's ok; we don't have to mention it ever again..." She said, willing to change the subject.

Nathan smiled and they sat in silence for a few beats before Nathan cleared his throat.

"You know, even though the circumstances where a little off... I've never really regretted it... you." He said.

Brooke smiled. "Weird." She said. "Neither have I."

That night Nathan was washing up in his apartment when he heard a knock at his door, automatically assuming that it was Brooke, he flung the door open.

"Hey." Lucas said as he pushed passed Nathan into his apartment.

"Sure... come on in." Nathan said sarcastically, closing the door.

Lucas just stared at him for a beats. "Haven't seen you around lately." He said finally.

"I've been around" Nathan replied. "Just busy."

Lucas glared. "Busy with Brooke?" He asked.

Nathan almost laughed. "What are you implying Lucas?" He asked.

Lucas kept the steady glare. "Just that you've been spending a lot of time with her lately."

Nathan groaned. "And what, in your book two people of the opposite sex can't be friends?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Lucas just looked away.

"But that's not what this is about." Nathan said, the truth dawning on him. "You're jealous. You fucked things up with Brooke. You hurt her so bad that she barely trusts guys now, and now you're jealous because I get to spend time with her while you're all alone.

Lucas looked shocked and for a second Nathan felt bad, he didn't mean for that to come out sounding so harsh.

"Luke..." He started.

But Lucas interrupted him. "No. You're right." He said. ""I did mess things up with Brooke, and I am jealous that you two have gotten so close, but really, I have no right to be jealous. I cheated on her, I lost her. I just can't help it, I want her." He finished.

Nathan digested this information, he'd had a feeling that Lucas still liked Brooke but the reality of it made him feel a little tight in his chest, he felt a kind of protection towards Brooke and he's be damned if he let his brother hurt her again.

Nathan cleared his throat. "Are you going to do anything about it?" He said finally.

"About what?" Lucas asked.

"Your feelings for Brooke?" Nathan answered, a bit impatiently.

Lucas shook his head. "I doubt she'd want to hear it." He answered.

Nathan nodded.

Lucas sighed. "Well I better go." He said. "Just thought I'd check in with you."

Nathan smiled for a second. "Thanks." She said, knocking fists with Lucas before opening the door and letting him out.

Brooke stared down at the chunk of poster in her hand. Nathan didn't know this, but while she was at his apartment one day she saw the wedding board that they had made for him and Haley all in pieces in the bin. When Nathan was in the bathroom that day, Brooke had stolen a few pieces and taken them back to her house. Staring down at the picture of Nathan and Haley in the centre of the piece she was holding made her sad, they looked so happy in it.

Brooke sighed. She hated seeing Nathan so sad, she wished there was something that she could do to make things better.

The small cardboard box sitting on her bed caught her eye and she walked over to it. The box had been sitting on her doorstep when Brooke had gotten home that afternoon from spending time with Nathan. It was full of stuff that she had given Felix or Felix had given her over their short relationship. Brooke pulled out the C.D that was sitting on the top of the pile, the Chris Keller C.D.

Brooke stared down at Chris's smug face, which only reminded her of Nathan again. She wished she knew what to do to make Nathan happy again.

Brooke looked down at Chris's C.D again before looking up at herself in her mirror; she'd just had an idea.

The next day Brooke walked into Karen's Cafe as if she had a purpose and walked up to the counter.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked.

Deb Scott stared back at her surprised for a second before answering.

"Yeah of course Brooke, come out back." She said.

Later that afternoon Nathan was about to head out to go see Brooke when he opened the door on his mum.

"Hey." He said, surprised.

"Hey Nathan." She replied, looking a bit nervous.

Nathan turned around and walked back into the house. "Come in." He said.

"How have you been?" Deb asked, trying to make conversation.

Nathan grimaced. "What did you come here for?" He asked, not unpleasantly.

Deb sighed. "I hate seeing you this miserable Nate." She said.

Nathan thawed a bit. "You too mum." He said softly.

Deb's eyes pricked with tears. "Look Nate, I know that I wasn't very supportive of you and Haley to begin with." She said.

Nathan looked away.

"But if you really love her." Deb continued. Grabbing Nathan's hand and putting a wad of cash into it. "You should go bring her home, she loves you. I've seen it."

Nathan looked down at the wad of cash then back up at his mum, not sure what to say.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hmm... I don't know ****if**** I like this chapter that much... It had to be done for the storyline to progress****But**** reading through it, it seems a little off... What do you guys think? I'm working on an update right now, so it should be up in a couple of hours... **** It should be a longy; this one's a bit shorter because I wanted it to end how it does... **

Nathan stared at his mum, unsure what to say.

"What made you... Why are you doing this?" He asked finally.

"Because as I said Nate, I hate seeing you miserable." Deb said. "Oh and Brooke."

"Brooke?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah." Deb answered. "Brooke came to me a few hours ago and suggested this."

Nathan glared at his mum. "She what?"

Deb was taken back a little by the tone of Nathan's voice. "She's worried about you... she thought this would be a good idea." She stammered.

Nathan turned around. "I have things to do." He said.

Deb stared at Nathan's back for a second before sighing and turning to go. "Bye..." she said as she closed the door.

Nathan waited a few minutes before grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

Brooke was sorting through photos at her vanity when Nathan walked in.

"Hey Nate." She said, not looking up from her photos.

"You went to my mum?" Nathan said, his voice angry.

Brooke looked up in surprise.

"I..." She started.

"You had no right to do that!" Nathan interrupted. "After everything that I told you about how I didn't want to rely on them anymore or know anything about my life, you go and do that!"

Brooke looked down guiltily. She's never thought of that when she went to Deb, she'd just wanted Nathan to be happier.

"Nathan, I'm sorry, I..." Brooke tried to say. But Nathan interrupted her again.

"I really don't want to hear it Brooke! From now on, just stay out!" He yelled before storming out of her room, leaving Brooke standing there helplessly, tears forming in her eyes.

An hour later Brooke walked into Peyton's room where she was sitting on her bed while Jake was rocking Jenny in a chair next to the bed.

"Hey Brooke." Jake said cheerfully when he saw her walk in the room, but when he saw the sad look on her face he gently stood up and grabbed Jenny's stroller and put his baby in it. "I'm gonna take Jenny for a walk." He told Peyton who nodded.

Brooke smiled weakly at him when he walked past. "Thanks Jake." She said.

As soon as Jake was out of the room Brooke collapsed on Peyton's bed on her stomach and buried her face into Peyton's pillow.

Peyton smiled at what she thought looked like Brooke being melodramatic.

"What's wrong?" She asked light heartedly.

"Nathan hates me." Brooke's muffled voice came.

Peyton sat up straighter in her bed. "What happened?" She asked, concerned.

Brooke rolled over and Peyton could see that she's been crying.

"Well I didn't want Nathan to be so miserable anymore, so I thought, if he could go see Haley, and bring her home, he'd be happy again." Brooke said.

Peyton nodded.

"But as you know with my current situation, I'm not exactly rolling in the cash, so I thought that maybe Deb might want to help out, so I went and asked her."

"And Nathan didn't take it too well?" Peyton asked.

"No." Brooke said, her eyes filling with tears again. "He came and yelled at me and told me to stay out, he hates me Peyton!"

Peyton patted Brooke's arm reassuringly. "I'm sure he doesn't hate you."

"You didn't see the look in his eyes." Brooke said tearfully.

Peyton smiled. "Believe me Brooke; I've been on the receiving end on plenty of his looks when we were dating."

"Yeah, but you could make him happy with you again by sleeping with him! I'm not going to do that." Brooke said, earning herself a whack on the arm from Peyton's pillow.

"What?!" She cried, laughing. "It's true!"

Peyton smiled; glad she got her best friend smiling.

"And he does hate me." Brooke said, a sad look once again crossing her features.

Peyton put her arm around her sympathetically, hating to see Brooke so sad.

Peyton wiped her hands on her jeans as she knocked on the door of Nathan's apartment a few hours after her talk with Brooke.

Nathan opened the door and when he saw it was Peyton he groaned slightly.

"Let me guess." He said, "You're here about Brooke."

Peyton pushed passed him in to his apartment.

Nathan sighed and closed the door, people had to stop doing that; it was getting annoying!

Once Nathan had closed the door and was facing her Peyton nodded.

"Yeah, I am here because of Brooke." She said.

Nathan scowled.

"Nathan, can't you see that she was only trying to do what she thought would help you?" Peyton tried.

Nathan looked away.

"She wants you to be happy again Nathan, we all do. Brooke is just the only one that's taken the initiative to actually do anything about it and you're punishing her for it?" Peyton continued.

By the look on Nathan's face, she knew she was getting to him.

"Think about it Nathan, do you really think she did that to hurt you? Involving your mum wasn't the greatest idea, granted, but you know how Brooke works, once she puts her mind to something..." Peyton said.

Nathan couldn't help but smile at that.

"I know she wasn't trying to hurt me Peyton." He said finally. "I'm not even really sure why I got mad, I just... got defensive..."

He winced. "I was really harsh, wasn't I?"

Peyton nodded. "Yep." She said, turning to go, but then she paused. "She's a great friend Nathan..." She said, turning around to face him. "Don't make the mistake I did earlier this year and lose her... you'll regret it."

As Peyton closed the door behind her, Nathan sat down on his couch, he had been so mad before that Brooke had brought his mum into the situation that he hadn't even considered that she had done it for him. Looking back, he didn't know what he thought she_** had**_ done it for... but as he had said to Peyton, he had got defensive. Partly he thought; because he was scared. He was scared that if he did go and try and bring Haley home, that she would say no, that she would choose her music over him again, and he didn't think he could take the pain of losing her again. Another reason why he thought he got so angry was because Nathan didn't trust people very easily, if much at all, Haley was pretty much the only girl he had ever trusted with his feelings, his fears, everything... until Brooke. And in a way, when he found out she had gone to his mum, when he had spent hours telling her how he didn't want his parents involved in stuff, especially concerning Haley, he guessed he felt a little betrayed.

But deep down, he knew that Brooke hadn't felt like she was betraying his trust, more trying to help him...

Nathan sighed and grabbed his phone.

He dialled a number he knew off by heart and held the phone to his ear.

"Hey, you've reached Haley James, if you leave a message after the beep I will get back to you when I can."

Nathan clicked his phone closed, grabbed his keys and walked out the door, letting it slam behind him.

Brooke was lying on her stomach on her bed staring at her wall when she heard a noise behind her.

Turning around she was surprised to see Nathan standing there looking like he was about to cry.

"Nathan..." She said, jumping off her bed.

"What if she says no?" Nathan asked.

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked gently.

"Haley." Nathan expanded. "What if I get there and she won't come with me...?" he said, his voice breaking.

Brooke instinctively stepped forward and gave her friend a hug.

Nathan shut his eyes and let her hold him.

"I'm sorry Brooke." He said softly into her hair.

"Me too." Brooke answered, just as softly.

"Are you going to go?" Brooke said, finally pulling away from the hug.

"Yeah." Nathan answered, "I am... But I don't think I can do it alone."

Brooke looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Nathan looked down, "I don't think I could handle being by myself if she says no..." he said after a few beats. "Can you come with me?"


	7. Chapter 7

**I'd just like to mention again how much I appreciate the feedback, you have all been so nice and I'm really glad you are liking this story. I had fun writing this chapter because it starts to explore the lust that I feel Nathan and Brooke have always had for each other on the show, even if it's just a look, and I explored it a bit. Again, I am loving the feedback so please keep it up ( - Erin Xx **

Brooke just stared at Nathan.

"You want me to come with you?" She asked gently, making sure she'd got what Nathan was trying to say.

Nathan nodded slightly, but didn't say anything.

He didn't need to; his eyes were doing enough pleading on their own.

"Well, yeah, of course I'll come." Brooke said finally.

Nathan smiled for the first time since he's came into her room.

"Thanks." He said.

Brooke smiled back. "Alright... Road trip!" She cried, pumping her arm while Nathan just grinned at her.

Brooke grinned back at him, glad she's broke the solemn mood.

"I want to head out this afternoon..." Nathan said. "That ok with you?"

Brooke nodded and smiled.

* * *

As soon as Nathan left her house Brooke went over to Peyton's.

"Hey." Peyton said, looking up from her computer when Brooke walked in with a smile on her face.

"Hey." Brooke replied, her smile getting bigger.

"I take it you and Nathan made up." Peyton said, grinning back at her friend.

"Yeah." Brooke replied. "And... um, he asked me to go with him." She said, sitting down on Peyton's bed.

Peyton jerked her head. "To go get Haley?"

Brooke nodded.

Peyton stared at her best friend for a minute.

"Brooke... do you have feelings for Nathan?" She asked finally.

"No!" Brooke cried.

She put her head in her hands for a second before looking back up at Peyton.

"Maybe..." She said after a beat. "Am I a bad person?"

Peyton laughed. "No, of course you're not a bad person, he's married, so that's a problem..."

"I know, and it's not like I'm going to do anything about the feelings, I mean I'm going with him to try and win his wife back..." Brooke said.

"It's just..." She started to say.

Peyton stared at her. "Just what?" she asked.

"Is it bad to think that maybe she doesn't deserve him?" Brooke continued quickly, as if getting the words out quicker would make her feel less guilty for saying them.

Peyton looked down for a second before answering.

"In my honest opinion, she doesn't deserve him at all." She said. "First she kissed Chris, and then she left Nathan to go on tour... that's not exactly good wife behaviour..."

Brooke nodded slowly. "Yeah." She said. "I guess you're right."

But Peyton's words didn't make the sick feeling in her stomach go away.

* * *

Nathan was packing a small bag with some clothes in the lounge room of his apartment when there was a knock on his door.

Quickly, he dropped the last few things in his bag and opened the door to find Lucas leaning against it.

Nathan opened the door wider to let him in and sighed slightly as he closed the door behind his brother.

"So, I see you decided to go." Lucas said, nodding his head towards Nathan's bag.

"How did you..?" Nathan asked.

"Your mum told me." Lucas answered.

Nathan sighed. Could anyone keep their mouth shut about anything in this town?

"Yeah, I'm going" He said finally. Hoping that was all Lucas would say about it.

"And what? You're going to ask her to come home..?" Lucas asked.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I guess... maybe, I haven't really got a plan." He said.

Lucas nodded. "You shouldn't really do it alone though Nate." He said. "I could come if you want."

Nathan groaned inwardly to what Lucas's reaction to what he was going to say next would be.

"It's ok." He said finally. "Um... Brooke's going to come with me."

Lucas recoiled slightly. "Brooke?" He choked out.

"Yeah." Nathan said light heartedly.

"Why?" Lucas said.

Nathan groaned inwardly again, Lucas was really starting to get on his nerves.

"She just is alright?" He said. "I have more packing to do; I'll see you when I get back."

Lucas scowled and looked like he was about to say more but decided against it and just walked towards the door.

"Hey Nathan..." He said suddenly, turning just before he was about to go out the door.

"Yeah?" Nathan asked, looking up.

"Good luck on getting your _wife_ back." Lucas relied, emphasising the word 'wife' as if Nathan needed reminding he had one.

Nathan smiled a fake smile and closed the door in his brother's face.

* * *

Later that afternoon Brooke was throwing some last minute things in a small bag when Nathan walked into her room.

"Hey Nate." She said as he walked in. "Do you know how long we'll be gone for? I'm not really sure how much clothes to bring?"

Nathan smiled at her. "A couple of days at the most." He said, standing in her doorway.

Brooke nodded and closed her bag.

"Hey Brooke?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah?" She replied looking up from her bag.

"Thanks for coming with me." He said. "You've been really great these last couple of weeks."

Brooke walked over to Nathan and squeezed his arm gently.

"Anything for you." She said sincerely.

Nathan smiled back for a few beats before clearing his throat. "Uh... we better get on the road." He said.

Brooke jerked her hand back and turned towards her bed, the moment broken.

"Yeah." She said, smiling and grabbing her bag of her bed.

Nathan walked behind her out the door, trying hard to catch his breath.

* * *

An hour into the road trip the pair was laughing as Nathan was telling Brooke about the last time he had been on a road trip when Lucas and him had spent the whole way back singing a terrible song that was on a tape stuck in the radio.

It was really hot in the car so they had the air conditioning blasting and Brooke had her window rolled down.

Nathan quickly looked at Brooke, unsure whether to bring up the topic of Lucas or not, but curiosity took over and he opened his mouth.

"Speaking of Lucas..." He said, keeping his eyes on the road. "How do you stand with him now?"

Brooke laughed. "Subtlety is obviously one of your strong points Nate." She said.

Nathan couldn't help laughing back.

Brooke took her thongs off and casually put her feet up on the dashboard.

"Well..." Nathan asked, quickly glancing at Brooke, trying very hard not to stare at her long, short denim shorts clad legs that were propped up against the dashboard.

Brooke went quiet as if she was thinking.

"I guess we are ok." She said finally, tugging at the tank top she was wearing with her shorts. "I mean, I haven't seen that much of him lately... But when I do see him, it's not awkward like it used to be."

Brooke grabbed some sunscreen out of her bag and casually started rubbing it on her legs.

Nathan nearly choked when he took a quick look at her.

Was she doing this on purpose?

Nathan cleared his throat. "And what about romantically; could you see anything happening with you guys again?" He managed to choke out, trying his best not to stare at Brooke's legs.

Brooke finished putting lotion on her legs and tossed the sunscreen back in her bag before answering.

"I don't know." She answered thoughtfully. "I mean, he really hurt me Nate."

Nathan nodded as a feeling came over him... relief?

""Hmm... I'm bored." Brooke said. "Let's play a game or something."

Brooke stretched her arms above her head, innocently unaware of the fact that in doing so she made her tank top ride up showing a strip of her flat tanned tummy.

Nathan noticed and nearly swerved the car off the road.

"Nathan!" Brooke cried out, grabbing onto the edge of her seat as the car jerked her a little. "Keep your eyes on the road!" She said a smile on her face.

Nathan nodded, staring straight ahead. "A game!" He blurted out.

Brooke stared at him, a smile playing at her lips.

Nathan quickly glanced at her and back at the road before clearing his throat. "Let's um... Play a game." He said.

Brooke grinned and settled back in her seat.

"Ok." She said. "I spy with my little eye..."

* * *

Half an hour later they had stopped at a petrol station for petrol and to get a drink.

Nathan had gone in while Brooke had stayed in the car with all their stuff.

Nathan came out of the little petrol station carrying two slushies, his wallet and his phone.

"Here let me..." Brooke said, opening the passenger door that Nathan was heading towards, just as he went to.

Surprised that the door was coming towards him so fast Nathan got bumped backwards and both drinks when crashing down his T-shirt.

Brooke gasped.

"Oh my god, Nate, I'm so sorry!" She said her hand over her mouth.

Quickly she grabbed a napkin out of her bag, jumped out of the car and started helping him get the slushy off his front.

"It's ok." Nathan said. "I'm going to have to change; I have spare shirts in the back." He said heading towards the boot.

Brooke got in the passenger side, took the keys out of the ignition and chucked them to Nathan so that he could unlock the boot.

Brooke leaned back in her seat, put her legs back up on the dash and casually looked out the window.

The sight she saw nearly made her throat dry up.

Nathan was standing in front of the boot; he had chucked the wet T-shirt in the boot already, so he was just standing there in jeans, shirtless, his nearly perfect body shining in the sun.

Brooke swallowed and groaned slightly. Tutor girl had no idea what she was missing out on.

Brooke managed to tear her eyes away from Nathan's musclier chest seconds before he pulled out a shirt and closed the boot.

Quickly pulling the new T-Shirt over his head, Nathan jumped back into the driver's seat and looked at Brooke.

"You ready to move on?" He asked.

Brooke nodded weakly.

"Sure am." She said. "you?"

Nathan smiled and nodded at her.

"Let's do it." He said.


	8. Chapter 8

**I have had so many nice things said about this fic and am really grateful for everyone that has commented, especially those that do it for every chapter! I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been so busy with exams! But now they are over with (**

**Ok, well this chapter is a little shorter than I hopes it will be, which means the next chapter will have to be twice as long for you guys (**

**I hope you are still liking this story, please let me know what you think, I love the reviews!**

**Again, this is alot shorter than I'd planned, but it needed to end the way it did to lead into the next chapter, so as I said before, I'll try and make the next one a long one! I have a storyline in mind, but don't plan out the chapters until I'm actually writing them, so thats why some are longer than others (**

**Have fun reading this, i definately had fun writing it (**

**- Erin Xx**

Brooke wound her window down even further and leaned her head out it slightly. The heat was really starting to get to her even though it was late afternoon.

Nathan yawned for the fifth time in what Brooke thought to be ten minutes.

"Maybe we should stop for the night." She said casually, yawning herself. "You can barely keep your eyes open.

Nathan looked at her for a second before nodding. "Yeah, alright. We'll stop at the next motel." He said.

Brooke stared out the window at the seemingly endless sun.

"Alright." She said.

Peyton was lying on her bed with Jake that afternoon and Jake had been noticing that she had seemed distant all day.

"What's the matter Peyton?" Jake asked gently.

Peyton sighed and turned on her bed so that she was facing Jake more.

"I'm worried about Brooke." She said.

Jake burrowed his eyebrows slightly. "Why's that?' He asked.

Peyton made a split second decision to tell Jake about her fears for Brooke.

She sighed again before continuing. "In short..." She said. "Brooke likes Nathan, Nathan's married, and I'm afraid that Brooke going to get hurt when Nathan and Haley get back together."

Jake digested this. "And you're sure they will?" He asked.

Peyton shook her head. "Not for sure... but if they do... I just don't want to see Brooke get hurt again."

Jake nodded. "I'm not too keen to see that either... but Nathan's a good guy... he wouldn't hurt her on purpose." He said sincerely.

Peyton nodded. "I guess you're right." She said. "It's just... I learnt this the hard way.. The heart can't help who it loves."

With his mum's money Nathan managed to get him and Brooke a reasonably nice room at a little motel they found along the road.

They dragged all their stuff from the car and Nathan unlocked the door and entered, Brooke just behind him.

Nathan chucked his things next to the door and looked around the room, it was nice for what they had paid for it; it had a nice big screen that led out to a patio, a little ensuite bathroom, a little table with two chairs around it, and a nice queen-size bed.

Wait a minute.

Nathan snuck a look at Brooke just as she noticed that there was only one bed too.

"There's only..." She said, trailing off.

Nathan nodded. "Uhuh."

"We're going to both have to..." She tried to continue.

"Yeah." Nathan answered, not needing to hear the rest of that sentence to get what Brooke was trying to say.

Brooke sunk down in the bed and Nathan looked at her almost nervously, wondering what she was going to say next.

But Brooke looked up at Nathan, down at the bed, then back up at Nathan and burst out laughing.

Nathan couldn't help smiling down at her. "Care to share what's so funny?" He asked.

Brooke looked up at him with a sly grin.

"Trust you to get us a room with only one bed." She said.

Nathan grinned down at her.

"Oh yeah?" He said, cocking his eyebrow slightly.

"Yeah..." Brooke grinned.

"I love the confidence you have in me." Nathan grinned.

Brooke just shrugged and grinned.

Nathan grinned down at her for a beat before launching on to the bed and starting to tickle her.

Brooke started laughing and squealing for him to stop.

"Nathan, Nathan, Nate Stop!" She giggled.

Nathan laughed and half rolled on top of her.

Brooke squealed again and tried to duck out of the way, but Nathan was too quick for her and started tickling her again.

"Nathan!" Brooke squealed between giggles, trying to push his hands away.

Nathan stopped tickling her and lay back on the bed, Brooke breathing heavily at his side.

Brooke turned towards Nathan and narrowed her eyes.

"That wasn't funny." She said, a smile playing at her lips.

Nathan just grinned at her and stared up at the ceiling.

Brooke sat up slightly on one arm and studied him for a second.

"You alright Nate?" She asked gently.

Nathan smiled slightly but kept his eyes on the ceiling.

"Just nerves." He said finally. "It's going to be weird seeing Haley tomorrow..."

Brooke smiled sympathetically down at him.

"Do you know what you're going to say?" She asked.

Nathan smiled again.

"I've gone over about a hundred speeches in my head." Nathan replied. "None of them seem right though."

Brooke nodded.

"Thanks for being here though Brooke" Nathan said quietly aster a beat. "It means a lot."

Brooke smiled, threaded her fingers through Nathan's and gave his hand a quick squeeze.

She went to pull her hand out, but Nathan kept the grip, not in a sexual way, it didn't seem to Brooke that he was holding her hand out of passion, more like comfort.

Still, Brooke couldn't help liking the feel of her hand in Nathan's strong one.

For the rest of the night they lay there, side by side, holding hands.


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, as promised, this chapter is twice as long as the last and has been the hardest to write so far; I wanted this chapter to be really emotional and judging by the fact that I nearly got tears in some bits just imagining the charecters saying the words I was writing, said to me that it was emotional enough!**

**Thank you all again for all the feedback I'm getting, I am so grateful for all of it and am hoping it will continue as the story progresses. ( **

**I hope you all like this new chapter... and there should be another update soon, I'm back on a roll... (**

**- Erin Xx**

When Brooke woke up the next morning, her clothes from the previous day were still on and she was in the same position as she was when she had fell asleep.

The only difference being that Nathan was gone.

Brooke sat up and groggily looked around the room to find Nathan sitting in one of the chairs by the window, staring out it.

"Hey..." She said, her voice still filled with sleep.

Nathan looked up, brought out of his trance.

"Hey." He said with a smile.

"How are you... how are you feeling today?" Brooke asked.

Nathan sighed and shrugged at her.

"Nervous, dreading..." He said.

Brooke cocked her head to the side.

"Dreading...?" She asked.

Nathan sighed and looked out the window before answering.

"Yeah, I mean... she already left me once..." He said.

Brooke didn't say anything, she knew that anything she said right then wouldn't have been efficient enough to ease Nathan's mind, so she did the only thing that she could think of; she went and sat on the chair next to Nathan's, took his hand in hers and stared out the window with him.

Haley finished a set on stage and closed her eyes as the audience's applause surrounded her. She loved the feeling of being on stage and people enjoying her music; it made her feel like she really had made it.

Thanking the crowd again, she picked up her guitar and ran off stage... into Chris's waiting arms.

Chris spun Haley round once before setting her down on the ground.

"You were great Hales!" He exclaimed. "As usual!"

Haley blushed modestly.

But no matter how much the crowd was screaming for her or how amazing a gig was, the ache in her heart that Nathan caused was always with her.

Haley hugged Chris again and told him she's meet him later before walking over to her dressing table, where all her photos of her and Nathan were.

Looking at a picture of her and Nathan on their wedding day; Haley felt a tear fall down her face, but she stubbornly brushed it away.

This was her life now, she loved being on tour.

Sure, she loved Nathan too, but not enough to give up her dreams.

Haley loved Nathan.

There was no denying.

But she knew it wasn't fair to him to wait for her while she went after her dream, that she couldn't expect him to not continue living his life.

Haley put the photo down and sighed, letting the tears flow down her face; she just wished it didn't hurt so much to let go.

Nathan parked the car in the car park and turned to Brooke.

"Do you want to come in, or stay in the car?" He asked.

Brooke smiled slightly and put a hand on Nathan's arm.

"It's up to you." She said. "I would like to see tutor girl." She shrugged.

Nathan nodded. "Alright," He said. "But..."

Brooke grinned. "I'll let you have your alone time." She said, mockingly making kissing noises.

Nathan couldn't help but grin, his nerves subsiding a bit, after all, this was only Haley after all; the girl he loved.

Nathan reached for Brookes hand and squeezed it, something that had become their trademark thing to do for each other when the other one needed it.

Brooke smiled.

"Let's go see your wife." She said.

Nathan got out of the car and locked it after Brooke had closed the passenger door.

Nathan didn't think he's ever had that many butterflies in his tummy at one time before.

Swallowing, he and Brooke made their way to the door where a burly looking security was standing; there was a group of fans loitering around the door obviously hoping to get backstage to meet the singers.

There was a sign on the door that was advertising 'The wreckers, featuring Haley James and Chris Keller.' Brooke saw it and smiled; it was weird to see her friend on a poster.

"You can't go in there." The security guard told them when they got closer. "They're performing in there."

"We know Haley." Brooke interjected.

A random girl stepped forward squealing.

"You know Haley James?" She exclaimed.

"Scott..." Nathan said gruffly.

"What?" The girl asked, confused.

"Her names Haley James Scott." Nathan replied, his eyes hard.

Brooke grabbed Nathan's hand reassuringly and held on tight.

"And you are?" The security guard said; surprised because in management he'd seen Haley fret over whether to put Scott on the poster or not.

"I'm Nathan Scott... her husband." He said.

The security guard stared at him stunned for a second before opening the door for him and Brooke and closing it after she had entered to the groans of the fans outside.

"It doesn't mean anything." Brooke said as soon as they got inside, her hand still in Nathan's.

Nathan knew that Brooke was trying to reassure him that the fact that Haley didn't have 'Scott' as part of her last name anymore didn't mean that she had forgotten about him... but he couldn't help but thinking that that was exactly what it meant.

Brooke and Nathan made their way over to where they could see a little bit of the stage.

Haley was performing; and Nathan swore to himself that he had never seen her look so amazing... she simply shined up on stage, her hair and face were highlighted by the light and she looked absolutely stunning.

Haley finished her song and Nathan could hear the crowd going absolutely wild; screaming her name.

Brooke could feel Nathan's nerves by how tightly he was squeezing her hand and couldn't help feel a bit of bitterness towards Haley for making him feel nervous about coming to see him own wife.

Haley got off her stool and walked in to the dressing room, stopping short when she saw Nathan and Brooke standing there.

"Nathan..." She trailed off.

Nathan abruptly let go of Brooke's hand and stepped forward, taking Haley into his arms.

"Hey..." He said quietly, burrowing his head into her hair.

Haley let go of Nathan, tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey Brooke." She said, walking forward and throwing her arms around Brooke.

"Hey tutor girl." Brooke replied, returning the hug. "You were amazing out there."

Haley broke the hug and smiled at her. "Thanks Brooke." She said.

"What are you guys... what are you doing here?" Haley asked, her head obviously still trying to get around the fact that they were there.

Nathan looked meaningfully at Brooke and Brooke got straight away what he meant.

"Well I came because I wanted the new Wrecker's album; where can I get it?" Broke said quickly receiving a grateful look from Nathan.

Haley smiled. "There's a gift shop down the hall and round the corner." She said.

"Thanks!" Brooke said before giving Nathan's arm a quick squeeze and practically bouncing out of the room.

Haley couldn't help grinning after her. "I guess some people don't change." She mused.

Nathan just stared at her.

"And some people change so much that you barely even recognize them." He said quietly.

Haley's heart fell; his voice was full of anger... and sadness.

"Nathan..." She started to say.

But Nathan cut her off.

"Please... let me go first." He said.

Haley nodded and led Nathan over to a couch where they sat down.

Nathan took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling before starting to talk.

"Haley, when you left I thought that I'd never get over it."

"You walked out on me; you walked out on our marriage." He said, his voice breaking slightly on some words.

"You gave me an ultimatum..." Haley interjected. "You told me if I left that we were over."

Nathan looked down, refusing to meet Haley in the eyes. "I didn't actually think you'd leave." He said so quietly that he wasn't sure he had said it out loud.

He could tell as soon as he looked up into Haley's obviously hurt eyes that he had.

"Haley..." He started to say in an apologetic tone.

But this time Haley cut him off.

"Well I did Nathan." She said.

"I left, and you might not want to hear this, but I'm happy. I'm sorry that I hurt you; that really wasn't my intention. But I can't pretend that I fully regret that choice because I don't."

Nathan looked down, not sure what to say to that.

But Haley wasn't finished.

"I've moved on Nathan." She said deliberately.

This made Nathan look up, his eyes full of pain.

"And I don't mean with Chris or anything remotely romantic like." Haley continued. "I mean with my life."

Nathan stared at her, literally at a loss for words.

"Falling in love with and marrying you was one of the best times of my life Nathan, you made me so happy and loved me back completely unconditionally, and for that I will always love you." Haley said; her eyes filling with tears.

"But I have never been good with chances Nathan, I never took them growing up, I ALWAYS played it safe."

"Then you happened, and I took the biggest chance I'd ever taken; I gave you my heart." She said, patting her chest where her hearts was.

"Now I have another chance, a chance to follow my dreams and become something. And as much as you mean to me; I can't and I won't give up this chance."

Haley finished and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks, nervously anticipating Nathan's reaction.

Nathan sat still on the couch, searching for the words that could possibly convey what was going on in his head and heart at that time.

Finally he spoke.

"What about me Haley?" He said, his voice unnaturally chocked.

"That's all great and fine that you love me, that giving your heart to me was a big chance you took and that now you have another chance that 'you just have to take'" He continued his tone tinged with bitterness.

"But where does that leave me?" He asked. "In case you don't remember, there were two people in that relationship, two people that got married that day."

"You were the first girl that I ever fell in love with Haley." He continued. "Before I met you, I was nothing like the guy I am today, I'm him; because of you. "

"I gave you my heart too Haley."

"So where does that leave me?" Nathan finished; his eyes hard but obviously faltering.

Haley looked up for the first time during Nathan's speech, her face stained with tears.

"I'm sorry Nathan." She said simply. "But I can't answer that."

Nathan looked down at his hands and noticed for the first time that they were shaking; he had the sudden urge to have Brooke there so that she could hold his hands to stop them from shaking.

Haley looked up into Nathan's eyes before continuing.

"Nathan, I want you to be happy." She said.

Nathan looked into her eyes for a second before answering.

"What's the point if it's not with you?" He said in a voice that nearly broke Haley's heart, but she stayed strong and answered.

"I'm moving on, and I think you should too." She said quietly but deliberately.

Nathan looked down so that Haley wouldn't see the tears welling in his eyes.

Haley opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the door to her dressing room opening and Brooke bouncing through.

"Argh!" She exclaimed excitedly. "I got two copies of 'The Wreckers' new C.D... free, signed by them! I dropped Peyton's name and scored them!"

Brooke trailed off as she noticed Haley's tear stained face and the way that Nathan couldn't look at her.

"Um... I can come back if you want..." She said, feebly pointing at the door.

Haley went to nod, but Nathan stood up before he could.

"It's ok, we're finished." Nathan said to Brooke with such an infliction that Brooke wondered if he meant it in more ways than one.

By the way Haley sunk back into the couch it was obvious that that's what she thought too.

Nathan turned to Haley and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you." He said simply, before turning and walking past her.

"I'll be in the car." He said to Brooke on his way past.

Brooke nodded and kept her eyes on Haley.

As soon as Nathan left the room Brooke went over and put her arms around her sobbing friend.

"Haley, what happened?" Brooke asked gently.

"I told him that we were over." Haley answered after she got her breath back.

Brooke pushed a piece of Haley's hair out of her face and stared at her sympathetically.

"Is that what you want?" Brooke asked gently.

Haley nodded her head. "It has to be. It's not fair on him to wait for me."

Brooke nodded. And sat quietly with Haley for a little while, letting her cry on her shoulder.

But eventually she shifted. "I have to go Hales; Nathan's waiting in the car..." She said reluctantly, hating to leave Haley when she was this upset.

Haley nodded and turned to Brooke. "Hey Brooke, do me a favour; look after Nathan for me." She said. "He's' going to need someone right now."

Brooke nodded. "Of course Hales." She said.

Haley smiled through her tears; "Thanks Brooke." She said.

Brooke gave her friend one last hug before letting herself out o the dressing room, leaving Haley staring at the wall, tears streaming down her face.

Nathan and Brooke's car ride back to the motel was silent.

Brooke had no idea what to say to her friend, feeling that any words wouldn't even come close to being what Nathan wanted to hear at that time, so she chose to not say anything.

They got back to the hotel room and still didn't say anything to each other as Nathan locked the car and they walked into the hotel room, Nathan collapsing on the bed and Brooke on one of the chairs.

Brooke closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, desperately trying to think of something to say to Nathan to make things better when she heard a distinctive sound coming from the bed.

Brooke's eyes sprung open. Nathan was crying.

Brooke jumped out of the chair and practically jumped on the bed onto her knees.

"Oh Nate..." She murmured, brushing his tears away with her hand.

Instinctively she leant forward and put her arms around Nathan, holding his shaking frame as he sobbed.

"It's over Brooke." He said quietly. "What am I going to do without her?"

Brooke nodded sympathetically and held him closer.

Nathan relaxed into her hold and sobbed into her shoulder as Brooke felt a tear fall down her own face.


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright, heres the next chapter, I am so sorry for the wait! The next few chapters are the most important for the storyline to progress, so they might take a little while to write, but they will be up as soon as possible (: I hope you are all still enjoying this story and am so grateful again for all the support and feedback, please feel free to keep it coming... (:**

**- Erin Xx **

What seemed like an hour later; Nathan sat up and smiled at Brooke, a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Brooke I..." He started to say but Brooke put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"Nate, its ok..." She said. "I understand."

Nathan stared down at the bed, glad that Brooke was there.

"I... I don't really want to go back right away..." Nathan said quietly.

Brooke nodded sympathetically.

Nathan looked up. "Is there anything you wanted to do at all while we're here in New York...?" He asked.

A huge grim came slowly on Brooke's face.

"Actually..." She said. "How do you feel about ice skating?"

* * *

Peyton and Jake lay on her bed enjoying their silence.

Peyton grabbed her phone and checked it for messages for what Jake swore was the fourth time in the last ten minutes.

Jake grinned at her. "What are you doing?"

"I just want to know how things went with Haley and Nathan... I hope that Brooke's not..." She broke off with a distant look. "I just don't want to see my best friend get hurt... again."

Jake smiled. "I'm sure Brooke wouldn't get in over her with something if she didn't think it was for sure." He said.

Peyton stared into Jakes reassuring eyes. "You're right." She said. "It's Brooke we're talking about; I'm probably just worrying about nothing."

"But..." She said, tracing her finger down Jakes bare chest. "Thanks for worrying about me, worrying about Brooke." She said, kissing him deeply.

Jake grinned and returned the kiss.

* * *

Brooke squealed as Nathan skated towards her and grabbed her round her waist, steering her round the rink.

"Nate!" She squealed, breathless.

Nathan grinned, his hands still on her waist.

"Too fast?" He asked.

Brooke nodded quickly.

"Just a bit!" She practically screamed.

Nathan laughed but slowed down a bit.

He had to hold tighter on to Brooke to steady himself and Brooke couldn't handle the extra wait.

Before she knew what was happening the ice was coming up towards her.

Quickly, Nathan turned them around and his back slammed against the ice, Brooke falling on top of him, he instinctively put his arms around Brooke's waist to steady her.

"Oof!" Nathan cried out.

Nathan looked up at Brooke's surprised expression and she looked down at his hurt one, and before they knew it they both burst out laughing.

Nathan gently moved his arms from around Brooke's waist and she rolled off and lay on her back next to him on the cold ice both still laughing.

An old couple that were skating by hand in hand chuckled down at them good naturally.

"To be young and in love again." The woman said to her husband as they skated past, loud enough for Brooke and Nathan to hear.

Nathan stopped laughing.

"Uh... let's go sit down for a while." He said, clearing his throat.

Brooke got the hint and sat up.

Nathan helped her up and they walk/skated over to the bench by the side of the rink and sat down.

Nathan stared at the ice below them for a second before turning to Brooke.

"Did she tell you what she asked me to do?" He asked, knowing that Brooke would know what he meant.

Brooke nodded. "That she wanted you to move on..."

Nathan nodded and looked away.

Brooke gently put her hand on his.

"No-one's expecting you to straight away Nate, these things take time." She said.

Nathan turned to her and smiled gratefully. That was exactly what he'd needed to hear.

"God Brooke." He said, turning his hand over so that hers slid into it. "You have no idea what you being here for me for the last few months has meant."

Brooke just smiled and looked away modestly.

Nathan looked away too and they sat there for the next ten minutes, both in their own worlds; their hands held tightly together in the middle.

* * *

Brooke slathered shampoo into her hair in the shower that night and sighed as a little trickle of it slipped down her cheek.

Washing the shampoo out before it all went in her eyes; Brooke couldn't help but feel a bit sad.

She had really tried to keep it together for Nathan all day, remaining positive and keeping him busy, but now that she was alone, she let a few tears slip out of her eyes.

It wasn't fair.

Brooke knew it was wrong to have feelings for Nathan, he had just got out of a long relationship; it wasn't like he would jump into anything anyway... right?

Brooke leaned against the back of the shower and closed her eyes, letting the water fall down on her face, trying to push the thoughts out of her head.

But closing her eyes made it worse. All she could see when she closed them was Nathan's face...

Nathan's body...

Nathan's sexy arms...

Brooke flung her eyes open and slammed the shower off, forcing the thoughts and images out of her head.

He was her friend, and he had just broken up with his wife, she had no right to think these things she kept telling herself.

Brooke got out of the shower and put the hotels robe around her and put the cute supplied slippers on her feet before walking over to the fogged up mirror and wiping it with her hand so that it became clearer and she could see herself.

She reached behind her and put her hair up into a bun, securing it with a band that was around her wrist.

* * *

Nathan lay on the bed in the hotel room drinking a beer from the mini fridge and trying not to keep wondering what was taking Brooke so long in the shower.

The whole time that the water was running Nathan was trying his hardest not to imagine Brooke standing in there, the water falling over her what he knew for a fact was a pretty sexy body.

Sure; it's been a few years since they had slept together, but Nathan had never forgotten it; her.

Although after it they had promised each other at the time that they would never talk about it again.

Or watch the video.

Nathan almost laughed as he thought back, time and time again after a fight with Peyton he had picked up that tape of Brooke, tempted to watch it; but every single time he had put it back in the pile with his basketball videos and closed the cupboard.

He'd said to himself at the time that it was because he wasn't really that interested in using a tape of himself as aid in getting off...

But now he really thought about it...

It was partly because he just couldn't do that to Brooke.

Nathan leaned back into the pillows.

Even back when he and Peyton were going out, Brooke had been a constant in his life, from picking her off the floor from another drunken night at his parent's beach house, to bitching about Peyton to her when they broke up for the fiftieth million time that month while she bitched to him about guys only wanting one thing.

Nathan sighed, he had gone and seen Haley today; he and his wife had broken up.

So why couldn't he get his mind off another girl?


	11. Chapter 11

**Alright, next chapter! This is a very... ipmportant chapter, so I'm wanting to know opinions please! (: I'm loving writing this story and am again, so happy for all the feedback from you guys, I'm really glad you like this story and don't worry; this is only the beginning! I have a lot planned for this story!**

**Please keep letting me know what you think, I love it and enjoy:**

Brooke and Nathan played it by ear for the next couple of days, waiting for Nathan to be ready to go back to Tree Hill.

They toured New York, checking out all the things that they had always wanted to and just bummed around the hotel room, having deep and meaningfuls or just talking.

The fourth night that they were there, Brooke had her nightly shower and in only the hotels robe she re-entered her and Nathan's room where he was sitting on the bed drinking a beer, something that he's done for the past three nights.

She walked over to the mini fridge and got herself a beer and went and sat next to him.

Nathan smiled at her and held his beer up to clink against hers.

Brooke opened it, clinked with Nathan and took a long chug.

Nathan grinned at her.

"Does this bring back any memories?" He asked with a sly grin on his face.

"Us drinking together?" Brooke asked, a grin slowly appearing on her face.

"At your parent's beach house." She continued.

Nathan nodded with a grin.

"The carefree days... before Haley." He said, his voice getting a slightly sad tone.

Brooke groaned.

"Don't take this the wrong way Nate, but if I could choose to hang out with you before you met Haley or now, now would win hands down."

Nathan had to laugh at that.

Brooke grinned.

"So..." Nathan said, trying to think of a subject to talk about.

"You and Lucas..." He said finally.

Brooke looked up.

"What about us?" She asked, turning her head to the side slightly.

Nathan looked down, not even sure why he had brought it up.

"Do you think...? I mean, can you see you guys getting back together,.,"

Brooke shook her head unquestionably.

"Not after... I mean, I'm over it, you know I'm over it, but it would take me a long time to be able to trust him again. "Brooke answered.

"Or guys in general." She said as an afterthought.

Nathan nodded, suddenly wanting to punch his brother in the head for making Brooke lose her trust in guys.

But that feeling was suddenly taken over by a stronger one... relief?

Nathan felt a weird feeling come over him as a thought came into his head; He was relieved that Brooke didn't seem to have any feelings for Lucas anymore.

But that was ridiculous... right?

Because that would mean that he had feelings for Brooke...

And that was wrong... right?

* * *

Lucas was lying on his bed when his phone that was lying next to him started ringing.

Looking down at the caller I'D Lucas grinned and answered it,

"Hey superstar, how's life?"

But Haley wasn't in the mood to joke around.

"Lucas..." She said.

"Nathan and I broke up... we're over." She said shortly.

Lucas breathed in. "What?" He choked out.

"He came to see me, and I told him that we were over; that he should move on with his life." Haley continued, he voice full of pain.

Lucas didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry Hales, are you ok?" He asked finally.

Haley wiped a tear away and nodded, even though she knew Lucas couldn't see her.

"I guess." She said. "I mean, I'm as alright as you can be when your marriage is over."

Lucas was still stunned by the revelation.

"Is this... I mean was it mutual?" He asked.

Haley paused for a second.

"Not really." She said, "I ended it."

It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do." She said her voice breaking.

Lucas's heart went out to his best friend.

"But it's for the best..." Haley said, in such a tone that Lucas could tell that she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

Lucas took that on board and accepted it as an explanation, but something in Haley's voice told him that maybe that wasn't really what she wanted after all.

* * *

Later that night, Nathan was on his fourth beer and Brooke was on her third and they were talking about things that had happened over the past couple of years.

"I nearly screwed things up for you and Haley remember?" Brooke said, her voice a little slurred from the alcohol.

Nathan nodded. "The party."

Brooke laughed. "And the note."

"You made it better though." Nathan said.

"With that scavenger hunt type of thing, it was ingenious. "

Brooke shrugged modestly.

"I felt like I needed to fix it." She said.

"If it was only fixable now." Nathan sighed, getting up and getting a fifth beer for himself and handing Brooke a fourth.

What do you mean?' Brooke asked, readjusting her position so that she was lying on her stomach on the bed.

Nathan got back into his position of lying opposite her, his arm resting on the pillows.

"Well, I guess I mean that Haley and my relationship is a lost cause." He said finally.

Brooke took a chug of her beer and looked at him.

"Ok, this might just be the beer, but I'm kind of not following you, what do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean, that I think Haley's right, it is time for me to move on with my life." Nathan replied, chugging his own beer.

Brooke raised an eyebrow.

"Wow... well this is progress." She said, before blushing when she realized the context that Nathan could have taken that comment.

"I mean, it's a step towards getting over Haley... I mean..." She stammered, trying to make her comments seem platonic.

Nathan laughed.

"It's ok Brooke, I know what you mean." He said, saving her from the hole she was digging for herself.

Brooke smiled gratefully.

Nathan grinned back and chugged his beer again.

Brooke took a long drink of her own and stared at Nathan.

He seemed a lot happier than he had been a week ago and she was glad about that, she was also glad that they had extended their stay in New York.

Being away from Tree Hill and everything that reminded him of Haley was probably the best thing for Nathan right now.

Sure, Brooke could tell that seeing the posters of her and Chris with the Wreckers around New York hurt him every time he saw them, but being in Tree Hill, surrounded by all the things they used to do as a couple, being back in their apartment...

Brooke was just glad they were there.

Nathan took another chug of beer and couldn't help staring back at Brooke.

Why did she have to be so pretty?

Why did he want so badly to reach over, grab her head and kiss her?

Nathan reached over and grabbed Brookes hand in his.

"You're a great friend Brooke." He said sincerely, his voice low.

Brooke laced her fingers through his and smiled.

"You know I'd do anything for you." She said with a smile.

Nathans eyes softened as he stared at her.

Brooke stared back, admiring how beautiful Nathan's eyes were in the light.

Nathan ever so gently leaned in closer.

Brooke could feel his hot breath against her neck as he got closer and closed her eyes as she breathed in his enticing smell.

They were so close now that Brooke knew if she turned her mouth even slightly to the side it would meet his.

Brooke's eyes sprung open

"I'm uh... going to go..." She broke off, hastily letting go of Nathan's hand, scrambling up to her feet and walking towards the bathroom door, figuring she'd decide what to do next after she reached the door.

Nathan jumped up and beat her to the door.

"Brooke..." He croaked out, grabbing her hand again.

Brooke looked away, tears filling her eyes.

"We can't... I can't... It's wrong." She said.

"You're right." Nathan said; his voice husky.

This made Brooke want to cry even more.

"It is wrong; this is wrong." Nathan continued.

"It's wrong that Haley and I broke up."

"It's wrong that I'm on the rebound."

"And it's wrong that for the last three months you barely leave my mind."

Brooke looked up at the last comment, a single tear falling down her face.

"Three months...?" She croaked out. "You mean even before...?"

Nathan nodded.

"I don't know what it is..." He said, staring into her eyes.

"But I can't get you off my mind."

Another tear slid down Brooke's cheek.

"I'm the same." She said in a whisper.

Nathan cupped her face in one hand, the other still holding her hand.

"So if it's so wrong..." He said, stroking her face, gently wiping the tear away.

"If we're so wrong..." He said huskily, bringing his mouth down towards Brooke and sweetly, gently kissing her.

"Then why does it feel so right?"


	12. Chapter 12

Brooke let herself sink into Nathan's kiss, her arms circling his neck.

Nathan wrapped his arm around Brooke's waist and if it was possible pulled her closer to him.

Nathan tasted so much better than Brooke had imagined, and although her head was screaming at her to stop kissing him, her heart wasn't listening.

There wasn't much going on in Nathan's head as he slid his hand gently down Brooke's back, caressing it.

Brooke tingled slightly at his touch and groaned slightly as Nathan pushed her gently against the bathroom door.

Nathan put on hand up against the door and kept the other one wrapped around Brooke's waist holding her against him.

He bit Brooke's lip slightly and it sent a shiver down Brooke's spine

There was no turning back now, Brooke let go of all her thoughts and just concentrated on Nathan's sweet kisses.

In one motion, Nathan picked Brooke up in his arms, still kissing her, and walked her over to the bed where he sat, Brooke on his lap, with her arms still around his neck.

Nathan leaned back, Brooke still in his arms so that they we lying on the bed, Brooke on top of Nathan, all while maintaining the kissing.

Brooke moaned slightly as Nathan hand slid up her leg, causing her dressing to ride up slightly.

Nathan moved his kisses down to Brooke's neck and she leaned her head back, moaning softly with pleasure.

His kisses reached the top of Brooke's dressing gown when Nathan stopped suddenly and looked down at her.

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked, his eyes the brownest Brooke had ever seen them.

Brooke looked up into Nathan's sincere eyes and quickly made her decision, this wasn't a drunken "accident" like the last time, the feelings they had for each other now were real and Brooke knew that if she didn't act on them she would regret it.

So she nodded her head definitely, smiled, wrapped a hand around Nathan's neck and pulled him down towards her.

* * *

The next morning when Brooke woke up, Nathan wasn't in the bed.

Pulling the covers around her and sitting up abruptly, she found him putting his clothes in his bag that he had sitting on one of the two chairs in his room.

"Hey..." She said uncertainly.

"Hey" Nathan said back, not quite meeting her eyes when he looked at her.

"You, uh, going to be ready to leave in about half an hour?" He continued, returning his gaze back to his bag.

Brooke didn't know what to say.

"Uh... yeah, I guess." She said, staring at him quizzically.

Nathan smiled slightly, grabbed his bag and walked out the door, obviously taking it to the car.

Brooke felt tears prick at her eyes, what happened?

Why was Nathan acting so distant?

Brooke let herself fall back against the bed; she had thought that they were on the same page last night, what had changed?

* * *

Nathan threw his bag in the boot of the car and leaned his head against the open boot.

He had woken up that morning with a really sick feeling in his stomach, he couldn't believe he had let himself take such a huge step and tell Brooke how he felt so soon.

Guilt pulsed through him as he thought about Haley.

How would she feel if she found out he had jumped into bed with another girl not even a week after they ended things properly?

One of her best friends too.

Nathan slammed the boot shut and tried to get all the thoughts, out of his mind.

Brooke and Nathan drove all the way back to Tree Hill in silence.

Not because they were mad at each other, just because neither one could think of a thing to say to the other.

There was an awkward tension in the air and neither one knew how to break it.

Brooke was relieved when they got into Tree Hill and Nathan pulled up outside Peyton's to drop her off.

"I'll... see you later?" Brooke said, getting her bag out of the boot and walking to the passenger window.

Nathan nodded and smiled slightly. "Later." He said, before driving off.

Brooke stared after him, feeling tears prick at her eyes again.

Brooke opened Peyton's front door, climbed the stairs, walked into Peyton's room, dropped her bag on the floor and collapsed on Peyton's bed where Peyton was sitting, reading a magazine.

"Brooke!" Peyton exclaimed as Brooke put a pillow on her face.

"Where have you been? You guys were gone for nearly a week!"

Brooke nodded sadly, not trusting herself to talk.

Peyton sat up, worried, and pulled the pillow off Brooke's head.

"Nathan and Haley got back together." She concluded from the look on Brooke's face.

Brooke shook her head.

"No." She said, "Haley told Nathan that she had moved on with her life and that it was time for him to move on with his."

Peyton was still staring at Brooke, a concerned look on her face.

"How did Nathan take it?" Peyton asked.

Brooke shrugged. "Bad I guess, I mean he was pretty upset... but..."

She looked down at the pillow that was now in front of her.

"Last night... he told me that he couldn't stop thinking about me. That he hadn't been able to get me off his mind for the last three months." Brooke continued.

Peyton raised her eyebrows.

"Three months?" She said. "So even before Haley told him to move on..."

"Yeah..." Brooke nodded.

"So what happened?" Peyton asked, leaning forward.

"He kissed me." Brooke said.

Peyton's eyebrows went sky high.

"He..." Peyton stammered.

"And then we..." Brooke said raising one of her own eyebrows and shrugging sheepishly.

Peyton's hand flew to her mouth.

"You guys slept together?" She exclaimed.

Brooke looked at her, feeling the tears prick at her eyes again.

"It wasn't like we slept together because we'd been drinking and were both lonely or anything Peyton, it was real, I at least was acting on feelings I've been bottling for ages..." She said.

"Had you though?" Peyton asked.

Brooke looked at her blankly.

"Had we what?" she asked.

"Been drinking?" Peyton asked.

Brooke nodded slowly.

"A little." She said, "But I'm telling you, it wasn't based on that..."

Peyton nodded, believing Brooke; she had seen Brooke after she slept with a random, she usually didn't care this much, she could tell Brooke really cared about Nathan.

"Well it wasn't for me anyway..." Brooke said quietly.

Peyton looked up, her thoughts broken.

"What do you mean?" She asked quizzically.

Brooke looked down.

"I don't know... this morning, Nathan seemed really distant..." She said.

Peyton smiled at Brooke reassuringly. "I'm sure he's just a bit freaked out about what happened." She said.

"He probably just needs a little time to get his head around things..." Peyton said.

Brooke looked up and tried a smile.

"I guess..." She said, wishing she knew what was going on in Nathan's head.

* * *

Nathan threw his basketball into the net at the river court and sighed out loud, there was so much going through his head at that point that they only thing he could do was try and take some of his frustration out on the basketball court.

This wasn't fair.

Haley had told him to move on.

So why did he feel so guilty at doing so?

It wasn't all guilt, it wasn't like he regretted it.

He was glad that Brooke knew how he felt, he just wished that maybe they had waited before acting on their feelings so that he didn't feel so guilty.

Nathan slammed the basketball against the back board deliberately and sighed again, and what about Brooke?

He had barely uttered a word to her after the events of last night, what must be going through her head right now?

Great, now he felt guilty for Haley and for Brooke.

For a second Nathan missed hi old lifestyle when he didn't give a fuck about anyone else but himself.

But as soon as the thought came into his mind he forced it out, he's changed and he knew he was better off for it.

It didn't help the situation being so frustrating though.

Nathan grabbed the basketball and started doing laps around the river court, dribbling while he did so.

He stopped suddenly and dropped the basketball on the ground, not caring that it rolled away.

Haley wanted him to move on; Haley was the one that suggested it.

So why should he feel bad for doing so?

Because as much as he felt bad about doing so, he couldn't get his mind off Brooke.

Brooke's eyes.

Brooke's smile.

Brooke's kisses.

Nathan picked up his ball and threw it at the court again.

And just like that he made a decision.

If he could handle not seeing Brooke for a day... 24 hours he would tell her that they had made a mistake and forget about it.

Nathan picked up his ball and headed towards his car.

This was going to be a long 24 hours.


	13. Chapter 13

**I've been getting some great reviews lately so thanks... (: I'm still enjoying writing this story and I hope that you guys are still enjoying reading it! (: If so, feel free to keep the reviews up! (:**

**- Erin Xx **

Nathan woke up the next morning knowing already that his day wasn't going to be very good.

He had to go back to school and he wasn't looking forward to it at all.

Shoving his covers off his bed he got up and dressed, figuring he might as well get the school part over with,

Just as he's finished getting dressed there was a knock at his door.

Nathan opened it to find Brooke on the other end.

"Brooke..." He stammered, not sure what to say, he hadn't actually talked to her since their extremely awkward trip back from New York.

Brooke smiled timidly.

"Hey..." She said, "I wasn't sure I you were going to school or not."

Nathan nodded. "I am..." He said quietly.

Brooke nodded back. "Good..." She said, trying to think of something else to say.

Nathan was doing the same. "And you...?" He said.

Brooke was about to nod but stopped herself.

"Nathan what are we doing?" She asked suddenly, causing Nathans head to jerk up from staring down at his floor.

"What do you..." Nathan started to say.

"We can't pretend it didn't happen..." Brooke said. "I don't want to pretend it didn't happen. I meant what I said that night, I still do." She continued.

Nathan sighed quietly and looked away.

"But obviously you don't." Brooke concluded.

Nathan's eyes went back to Brookes and he noticed the tears in them for the first time.

"I did; I do..." Nathan said, grabbing Brooke's arm and forcing her to look up at him.

"I meant everything I said Brooke..." Nathan continued, his voice strained as he tried to say what was going through his head.

But Brooke got it.

"Maybe we should just... give each other some space until we figure out what we... want." Brooke said quietly.

Nathan felts his insides clench; he wanted desperately to scream "No!" And to tell her that he wanted her, right there and then.

But he couldn't, there was too much going on in his head and he couldn't decipher whether they were his real feelings or just what he wanted to say so that he didn't have to hurt her.

Brooke turned to go and Nathan decided to hold his tongue.

"I guess I'll see you at school." She said, smiling slightly at him before leaving.

Nathan shut the door behind her and leant his head against it, he didn't know why he was so confused.

Haley had told him to move on.

She had ended things.

So why did he feel so bad doing so?

* * *

Peyton caught up with Brooke at school, eager to hear how her talk with Nathan went.

But as soon as she saw Brookes down expression she knew it didn't go well.

"What happened?" She said as she sat down opposite her best friend at a table outside the school.

"Nothing really..." Brooke said, looking up from her lunch.

"We just kinda agreed to give each other space while we worked out what we wanted.

"Which for you is...?" Peyton asked.

Brooke studied her lunch for a second.

"I don't know Peyton..." she said "I mean, I haven't felt this way about a guy since Lucas..."

Peyton looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of the boy that broke the two girls apart for awhile.

"And I have no idea where it could have gone..." Brooke continued, oblivious to Peyton's moment of uncomfort.

Peyton nodded.

"But on the other hand..." Brooke said. "What about everyone else... Lucas would hate it... and Haley... Peyton, I don't want to hurt Haley!"

Peyton's eyes clouded over at the mention of Haley.

"Brooke, Haley ended things with Nathan. She chose her music; she chose to move on, if she lost him to someone that is going to actually treat him like he deserves... well then tough luck!" She said.

Brooke smiled slightly.

"Yeah but when she told him to move on... I'm pretty sure she didn't mean for him to move on with one of her best friends." She shrugged.

Peyton just stared at her.

Brooke had really grown up in the last year... The old Brooke Davis wouldn't have been this worried about hurting another girls feelings.

This made Peyton want Nathan and Brooke to be together.

Brooke deserved to be happy, and if Nathan was the one to make her happy then Peyton was hoping he's get over Haley and do just that.

* * *

Nathan tried to concentrate on the teacher but all day his mind kept going back to one thing... Brooke.

He couldn't get her out of his head.

After school he was walking towards his car when he saw Peyton.

She was standing next to his car, her iPod in her ears.

"Hey..." She said as he got closer, pressing pause on her iPod.

"I guess Brooke has told you everything..." Nathan said as he approached, knowing that Brooke usually told Peyton everything but not minding...

As long as Lucas didn't find out...

Peyton nodded.

"What I'm looking for is your point of view..." She said.

"What's going through your head Nathan?" She asked.

Nathan walked past her and unlocked his car, motioning at her to get in.

Peyton waited until Nathan had unlocked his door, gotten in and unlocked hers before hopping in the car an turning to Nathan.

"As your ex girlfriend, I feel I have a right to know what your feelings for my best friend are." She joked.

Nathan managed a small laugh.

"I don't know Peyton..."

"I mean..." he said with a sigh. "I like her... I do..."

"But you're in love with Haley." Peyton finished for him.

"Well yeah..." Nathan said slowly.

Peyton nodded. "That's understandable Nathan, you guys got married."

"Mmm... but then I feel bad for loving Haley because I'm trying to move on... But then I feel bad for moving on because of Haley..." Nathan continued. "It's a vicious circle."

Peyton nodded and handed Nathan her iPod. "Listen to the song that I have on pause." She said to him.

Nathan looked at her cautiously but took the iPod and put it in his ears, pressing play.

Nathan closed his eyes quickly when Haley's voice filled his ears, but he kept on listening anyway.

_"But sitting here waiting for this is torture_

_I'm so glad you're far away..._

_Is that a terrible thing to say?_

_Well, I wonder if you're ok."_

Peyton, who could hear the song slightly through the ear phones paused it at that line and took her iPod back of Nathan, who was sitting still and silent.

"She wanted you to move on Nathan." She said gently.

"There's no reason you should feel bad in doing so."

Nathan nodded; that was just the reassurance he needed.

_"_Thanks Peyton." He smiled.

Peyton smiled back and hopped out of Nathan's car.

"Oh, just one more thing..." She said, poking her head back in his car.

Nathan looked up expectantly.

"Break her heart and I break your face." Peyton said smiling and slamming the passenger side door.

Nathan smiled and took off, in the direction of Brooke's house.

* * *

Nathan got to Brooke's and stopped his car, just the night before he had made a pact with himself not to think about her all day, instead he couldn't stop.

Taking the keys out before he could stop himself, Nathan hopped out of his car, locked it and made his way to Brooke's door.

Nathan was the last person Brooke expected to see when she opened the door.

"This is your definition of giving each other space?" She asked with a sly grin.

Nathan smiled and relaxed around 90.

"What can I say?" He said lightly. "I couldn't stay away."

Brooke smiled and led Nathan to her room so that they could talk.

As soon as Brooke closed her door behind them Nathan gently pushed her up against it and kissed her long and sweet.

Brooke had a look of surprise on her face when he finally pulled away.

"Nathan..." She breathed. "Are you sure?"

Nathan stared into her eyes and nodded.

"I tried." He said, cupping her face in his hand. "I tried to not think about you all day, but I couldn't get you off my mind." He said, kissing her sweetly.

Brooke grinned up at him.

"I couldn't get you off my mind either..." Brooke said, returning Nathan's kiss.

"But..." Brooke hated to stop the sweet kisses but couldn't help saying what she was about to say.

"What about Haley?"

Nathan cupped Brooke's face in his hand again before answering.

"Haley told me to move on, and that she wanted me to be happy. You've made me more happy than I could ever have imagined being after Haley." He said sincerely.

Brooke smiled and brought her lips to his in agreement.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and broke the kiss, getting lost in his eyes.

"Maybe... uh, maybe we shouldn't tell anyone to start off with... Just until we figure out what this means..." Nathan said, clearing his throat.

Brooke nodded in agreement, closing her arms tighter around her neck.

Nathan picked her up into a hug and Brooke wrapped her legs around his waist, grinning and kissing him deeply.

* * *

Lucas lay on his bed, gently throwing his basketball against the wall in his bedroom.

He hated that his best friend and brother were so miserable without each other.

Of course, he supported Haley's music ambitions completely; he just wished they weren't at the expense of his brother's happiness.

Lucas threw his basketball at his wall again and caught it in his hands, making the spilt second decision right there and then that he was going to get his best friend and his brother back together again.

Whatever it took.


	14. Chapter 14

**Alright... here is the next instalment of my favourite story I've ever written! I love writing for Brooke and Nathan because I think that on screen they have so much unresolved... sexual tension... I guess you could say, and I really enjoy writing my own... resolving... for them (;**

**I hope you guys are still liking this story and I should have the next chapter up in a few days at the most (:**

**Erin Xx**

Brooke smiled as she woke up.

She smiled down at Nathan's arm, wrapped almost protectively around her stomach, even though he was still asleep.

She snuggled deeper into Nathan's arms and sighed contently.

For the last few days they had kept to themselves a lot, acting casually in public and sneaking kisses when no-one was watching.

They both agreed that there was a lot of people that would be hurt by their sudden romance so it was best to keep it to themselves for the moment.

Brooke didn't mind, she liked that she had Nathan to herself.

Brooke felt Nathan shift slightly so she turned around in his arms to face him.

"Morning..." Nathan mumbled sleepily as he wrapped his arms tighter around Brooke and she settled her head into his neck.

"Mmm" Brooke mumbled back, wishing they could lay like that all day, but unfortunately it was a school day and Brooke had to get back to her own house before either of her parents walked in her room and realized that she hadn't slept there last night.

Not that they'd noticed she's been doing in for the last four nights.

"I have to go..." Brooke said softly, dreading getting out of the warmth of Nathan's embrace.

Nathan let out a little groan and sat up on one elbow, Brooke lying next to him against his bare chest.

. "Do you have to?" He asked staring down at her with puppy dog eyes.

Brooke melted but stood her ground.

"Yeah Nate... but I'll see you at school..." She said with a smile.

Nathan semi pouted.

"Yeah... but at school I can't so this..." He said, kissing her neck.

Brooke grinned and closed her eyes with pleasure.

"Or this..." He said, bringing his mouth up to hers and kissing her deeply, leaving her almost breathless.

Brooke broke this kiss and smiled but hopped out of the bed anyway, throwing on some clothes to wear until she headed home and hopped in the shower.

Brooke grabbed her stuff and looked back at Nathan who was sitting up in the bed now still giving her puppy dog eyes.

Brooke laughed, grabbed her stuff and started out the door, then at the last second she dropped her stuff on the floor and jumped on Nathan's bed.

She threw her arm around his neck and kissed him long and hard for several seconds before pulling away, this time leaving him breathless.

"That should last you for awhile." She said with a grin, her arms still wrapped around his neck.

Hopping off the bed, grabbing her stuff and giving Nathan one last grin, Brooke left the room, leaving Nathan sitting in his bed with a grin that he didn't think would leave his face for at least the next couple of hours.

Brooke was at her locker a few hours later when she heard someone coming up behind her.

"Hey Brooke..." Came a deep voice.

Brooke smiled into her locker, he wouldn't kiss he in public would he?

Brooke got excited chills down her spine at the thought.

She turned around with a big smile on her face to find... Lucas.

"Uh... hey Luke." She said awkwardly.

Lucas noticed the strangeness and looked at her quizzically.

"How have you been?" Lucas asked.

Brooke turned and finished getting the books out of her locker, shut it and then starting walking down the hall next to Lucas.

"Yeah good..." She said.

"How are you?"

Lucas nodded. "Same."

"Hey Brooke." He said. "I just wanted to thank you again for being there for Nathan so much lately."

Brooke smiled uncomfortably.

"I mean, you've been really great, going with him to go see Haley and everything." Lucas continued.

Brooke stared at him.

Did he know?

He couldn't know.

Right?

Before Brooke could answer Lucas continued.

"Seeing you guys being such good friends has made me really miss you Brooke." He said.

Brooke sighed inwardly with relief.

He didn't know anything.

"Do you think it's possible... if you and I could be friends... like good friends?" Lucas asked.

Brooke was so relieved that Lucas didn't know anything that she grinned broadly and hugged him tight.

"Of course we can Luke!" She said.

Lucas grinned back and squeezed her back.

Brooke smiled and looked over Lucas's shoulder just in time to see Nathan round the corner.

An expression that Brooke couldn't work out crossed his features and he turned around and walked back in the direction he came from.

Brooke pulled away from Lucas and smiled slightly at him.

"Well, I better go." She said.

Lucas grinned at her and then left in the direction that Nathan had gone.

Brooke sighed and headed to her own class.

An hour later, her phone vibrated in her bag.

It was a text from Nathan telling her to go to the girl's bathrooms.

Brooke asked to go to the toilet and made her way to the bathroom.

When she was almost there a hand came out of nowhere and pulled her into an empty classroom.

Brooke nearly screamed until she was pushed against the blackboard and Nathan's lips were against hers.

Nathan had shut the door, locked it and pulled down the blind on the window on the door so that no-one could see in.

Nathan picked Brooke up and set her down on a desk at the front of the room.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and put her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.

"You really know how to make me crazy." He murmured with a grin when they finally broke apart, both of them trying to catch their breath.

Brooke grinned back.

"Believe me; I have no feelings for Lucas." She said.

"I know." Nathan replied. "I just... hate seeing him touching you..." he mumbled.

Brooke grinned. "Jealous...?"

Nathan grinned back.

"Why should I be? If anything, he should be jealous." He said.

"I'm the one that got Brooke Davis. He's the one that lost her."

"Mmm" Brooke replied kissing Nathan sweetly.

"This Brooke Davis sounds like someone pretty great then..." She said teasingly.

Nathan laughed. "Yeah, she's great alright..."

"Pretty damn hot too..."

Brooke looked down at Nathan from her spot on the desk, her eyes sparkling happily.

"Oh yeah?" She replied, cocking her eyebrow.

"Not as hot as you of course." Nathan said with a grin, gaining a laugh out of Brooke.

Nathan's expression then turned serious.

"It seriously made me crazy seeing you there with Lucas though. Seeing you with anyone else..." He said.

"I wanted to come up and kiss you and kiss you, tell the whole school that you were mine." Nathan continued.

Brooke's eyes softened and she kissed him gently on the cheek.

"But I knew that I couldn't" Nathan sighed. "So I had to turn around and walk the other way."

Brooke nodded and smiled.

"I know what you mean." She said.

"The whole time I was hugging Lucas, I wished that it was your arms wrapped around me. "

Nathan kissed Brooke's neck from the top of her neck to her collar bone and sighed.

"I wish we could just tell everyone." He said, looking up at her again.

Brooke smiled.

"Me too..." She said.

But there are too many people that would get hurt if we tell to quick.

Nathan nodded. "I kinda don't want Haley to find out from some stranger."

Brooke nodded.

"Me neither." She said.

And she didn't, she didn't want Haley to get hurt because of her and Nathan being together. It was never Brooke's intention to fall for Nathan... it had just happened that way.

Brooke wrapped her legs tighter around Nathan's waist and he stepped closer, forcing her arms to tighten around his neck as they kissed.

They were so engrossed in their kisses and each other that they didn't hear keys turning in the lock and the door to their classroom swinging open until it was too late.

Nathan and Brooke looked up to the door as it swung open like deer caught in headlights as they watched the door open, too stunned to move...

**Ok... I can see you're all thinking... "Nooooo! Don't leave it on a cliff hanger!!" Lol... But I had too... It's important for the next chapter... (: Please still love this story and review it! (:**


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm going away on Christmas day for ages and so I really hope to finish this story before then, which really doesn't give me that long, so if some bits seem a little rushed, I'm really sorry guys, I just misjudged the timeframe I had for this story! **

**I hope you guys are still enjoying it and I am still loving your reviews, every single one of you! (: **

**I will hopefully have the next chapter up tomorrow or friday... (:**

**- Erin Xx**

Brooke, still with her arms around Nathan's neck and legs around his waist could only stare as the door continued to squeak open.

Nathan's eyes met hers as they shared a nervous look.

The door opened fully and Brooke was almost too scared to look up, but she did, into the surprised expression of Mouth.

Brooke sighed with relief and leaned into Nathan.

"It's only Mouth..." She whispered into his ear.

Brooke could feel Nathan breathe easy as Mouth shut the door behind him.

Brooke unwrapped her legs and hopped off the desk, Nathan turned around and grinned at Mouth.

"Hey Man." He said.

Mouth was still staring at them, speechless.

"Uh... sorry... Whitey gave me the keys to this classroom to work on a video to advertise for the next game..." He stammered, obviously trying to get his head around what he's just walked into.

Brooke was now standing in front of Nathan and he wrapped an arm casually around her waist.

"Uh... I didn't know that you guys..." Mouth continued to stammer.

Brooke nodded and went slightly red.

"It hasn't been that long..." She said uneasily, not sure how much Nathan wanted her to say.

"Haley and I broke up." Nathan said.

Mouth nodded, obviously still a bit in shock.

"Hey Mouth... do you mind if you don't say anything to anyone for now... we just don't want anyone to get hurt." Brooke said, her eyes pleading.

Mouth nodded, as if he could ever say no to Brooke.

"Yeah of course." He said, "And um, I could probably find another classroom so that you guys can stay here..."

Brooke and Nathan both smiled gratefully.

"Thanks Mouth." Brooke said, smiling at him.

Mouth turned to go but turned back. "I must admit I was a little surprised when I first walked in..." He said.

"But you guys look the happiest I've seen either of you in months. So I think this... you guys is a really good thing."

After Mouth had shut the door and Nathan had locked it again, he walked over to Brooke and put her up on the desk again.

"I agree with Mouth..." He said, kissing her sweetly. "I am the happiest I've been in ages.

"Me too..." Brooke mumbled with a grin, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

* * *

Peyton was walking down the hall that afternoon when she ran into Lucas.

"Hey..." He said when he saw her. "I was hoping to see you, there's something I wanted to talk to you about... could I come over this afternoon?"

Peyton wasn't sure what to say... so she nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'll be home after five... come any time after that.

Lucas nodded, squeezed her arm and walked off.

Peyton stared after him for a second before rolling her eyes and walking off.

* * *

Haley had just finished another set and was sitting in her dressing room when she noticed a pile of mail sitting on the table.

She flipped through some fan mail and got to an important looking envelope.

Haley slid her fingernail through the top of the envelope and pulled out the documents that were inside.

Haley couldn't stop the tears from filling her eyes as she looked down at what it was.

A petition for annulment.

Already signed by Nathan.

Tears slipped out of Haley's eyes before she could stop them. Sure she had been the one to tell Nathan to move on with his life, she just hated to think that he actually was.

Haley wiped her tears, she was being selfish, she's let him go.

It just didn't stop her heart from breaking.

* * *

Peyton was working on a painting and Jake and Jenny had gone for a walk that night when Lucas walked into her room.

"Hey..." She said, sitting up in a sitting position so that Lucas could sit on the bed with her.

"I want to get Haley and Nathan back together." Lucas said straight off the bat, not even bothering to say hello.

Peyton stared at him; speechless.

"And I need your help." Lucas continued.

* * *

Nathan and Brooke were in the part of a relationship where it is impossible to keep your hands off the other person and they were both enjoying it immensely

Because of the height difference, Nathan had got accustomed to picking Brooke up and placing her on whatever there was near them that was higher.

So as soon as they got into his apartment that afternoon she was on the counter, her arms wrapped around his neck.

Nathan finally broke of the kiss after several minutes and grinned at Brooke.

"This is crazy." He said.

Brooke smiled back, her eyes shining happily.

"I know..." She said.

"If I was watching us... we'd sicken me..."

Nathan laughed.

"Seriously though... What are we doing?" He asked with a grin.

Brooke smiled. "Well, I'm kissing your neck..." She answered with a grin, kissing him on the neck.

Nathan let himself be taken over by the feel of her lips on his neck for a second before letting his head clear and continuing a conversation he's been wanting to have with Brooke for the last couple of days, against his want to just let the physicalness of their relationship just keep going the way it as.

But he wasn't that kind of guy anymore.

Nathan pulled away slightly and grinned at Brooke.

"Seriously Brooke... what are we...? Are we friends with benefits... or is it something more?" Nathan tried again, this time getting Brookes full attention.

Brooke was speechless for a second; she had been so caught up in the happiness of just being with Nathan that she hadn't really stopped to think about what they were...

"Well..." Brooke started, trying to get what she was trying to say out. "I really like spending time with you..." She said.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, same..."

"And we do kiss... and other stuff." Brooke cocked an eyebrow and Nathan blushed slightly.

"And I really care about you..."

Nathan nodded again. "I care about you too..."

"By themselves those things don't seem like much..." Brooke continued. "But put together..."

"They're the makings of a relationship..." Nathan finished for her.

Brooke smiled, glad that he had got what she was trying to say.

Nathan cleared his throat. "So... just to clarify... this thing that's going on between us here... we're calling it a relationship?"

Brooke shrugged slightly with a smile.

"I guess so..." she said.

Nathan grinned.

"Cool..." He said.

Brooke smiled and cocked an eyebrow... "Cool?" She mocked playfully.

Nathan kissed her sweet and deep.

"Yeah... cool."

* * *

Peyton stared at Lucas.

"What... I mean how do you propose we do that?" she asked, finally getting something out.

Lucas shrugged. "That's why I came to you... I thought you might be able to come up with something... I'm just sick of seeing Nathan so sad..."

Again, Peyton was speechless...

She didn't want to rat Nathan and Brooke out or hurt Lucas, so she didn't want to tell Lucas that in her opinion Nathan was happiest he's been in a long time... with his ex girlfriend.

So she just said nothing.

* * *

Nathan and Brooke were lying in bed about an hour later, just lying, content in each other's company.

Nathan was lying on his side, propped up on his arm and Brooke was facing him, Nathan had only shorts on and Brooke was in her underwear, a sheet wrapped around the two of them.

Nathan reached over and started gently playing with Brooke's hair.

"I'm glad we defined us... this." He said quietly.

"Me too..." Brooke murmured back with a happy smile.

"I just wish I didn't have to keep it a secret that big shot basketball player Nathan Scott is my boyfriend." She said playfully.

Nathan laughed.

"Oh... so that's all I am to you? Someone to brag about?" He asked just as playfully.

It was Brooke turn to laugh.

"Uh yeah... why else would I be with you?" She asked in a mock snobby voice.

"Oh yeah?" Nathan relied, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah" Brooke nodded with a cheeky grin.

There was a two second beat before Nathan started tickling Brooke.

Brooke squealed and laughingly begged him to stop and eventually he did.

Brooke lay flat on her back while she tried to catch her breath and Nathan rolled on top of her, catching her lips with his, his hand gently caressing her thigh.

They were both really getting into it when the doorbell rang.

Brooke flopped back against the pillows.

"Do you have to get that?" She asked almost seductively.

Nathan groaned with frustration.

"I better..." He grinned at her. "What if it's Lucas... we need to keep up appearances... that includes actually making an appearance..."

Brooke grinned.

"Alright..." she said. "But hurry... I'll be waiting..." she said, eyebrows raised.

Nathan grinned and jumped off the bed.

"Don't worry." He said. "I will..."

Grinning, he didn't bother putting a shirt on.

Nathan walked to the door and pulled it open.

The sight of who was standing there wiped the grin right of his face.

It was Haley.

"I'm sorry Nathan... I made a mistake... I want to come home." She said slowly, tears in her eyes.

All Nathan could do was stare.


	16. Chapter 16

**I loved how everyone had the same reaction to the last chapter! I'd just like to point out for a second that I LOVE Haley in OTH... she just happens to not be the same in my story! Again, I'm kinda rushing the storyline along a little, If I had more time it would probably be more detailed... (:**

**Again, I am incredibly grateful for all the feedback, I love it! **

**Well here it is... (:**

Nathan was shocked.

This couldn't be happening.

A month ago this is exactly what he wanted, he wanted Haley, he wanted his wife to come back home, and he felt that he would never be happy again until she was.

But he was.

He was happy with Brooke.

Why did Haley have to come back now?

Nathan wanted to hate her.

He wanted to look her in the eyes and tell her to go to hell; that he had moved on and that he was happy now and was completely over her.

But he couldn't bring himself to lie.

"Look..." Haley said after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Can I just come in... can we talk?"

Nathan's mind flashed to Brooke in the bedroom.

It wouldn't be fair on her to just kick her out and talk to Haley.

So he shook his head.

"Tomorrow..." He said quietly.

"Where are you staying?" He asked.

Haley shrugged.

"With Lucas, I guess." She said.

Nathan was still staring at her as if he wasn't sure she was real.

"I'll... uh, come by tomorrow then."

Haley nodded, obviously wanting to say more.

"Well... I'll see you then..." She said slowly.

Nathan nodded and closed the door, leaning his head against the cold wood.

He couldn't believe this was happening.

In a daze, Nathan walked back to the bedroom and sat on his bed.

Brooke sat up, noticing straight away that something was wrong.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Who was at the door?"

Nathan didn't think his mouth and brain could work together but he managed to answer.

"Haley." He said softly.

Brooke recoiled.

Haley?

What did this mean?

Nathan sat with his head in his hands and Brooke had no idea what to say.

Hundreds of questions were going through her head.

What did she want?

Did she want to get back together with him?

Did Nathan tell her about them?

What did this mean for them?

Was he going back to Haley?

But Brooke knew better than to ask Nathan right then, there must have been questions and thoughts going through his own head and the last thing he needed was her putting more in there.

So she just reached over and took his hand in hers.

Nathan opened his fingers and allowed hers to slide into his.

"Nathan... I understand if you want to... I mean, now that..." Brooke stammered trying to get out what she was trying to say.

Nathan just looked at her and for the first time Brooke noticed the amount of pain in his eyes.

"Is it alright if you just lay with me...?" Nathan said quietly.

Brooke nodded; relieved he didn't want her to go.

Nathan lay down on the bed, still shirtless and pulled Brooke towards him so that she was lying against his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist.

Nathan buried himself slightly in her hair and tried not to dread the next day.

* * *

Lucas was getting a glass of orange juice form he fridge that night when there was a knock at the door near the kitchen.

Lucas opened the door, and when he saw it was Haley he put his orange juice down on the kitchen table and pulled her into his arms.

* * *

Peyton and Jake were lying on her bed, Jenny asleep beside them later that night.

"Wait, so let me get this straight." Jake said.

"Haley and Nathan broke up and she told him to move on, so he did... to Brooke. And you had something to do with getting them together, but promised not to tell Lucas because you, Nathan and Brooke all don't want to see him hurt from the pairing."

Peyton nodded.

"And then Lucas comes to you, asking for your help in getting Nathan and Haley back together, completely oblivious that Nathan has moved on."

Peyton nodded again, this time with a smile.

"Confusing... huh?"

It was Jake's turn to nod.

"I'm getting a headache just thinking about it."

He said.

Peyton had to laugh.

She was lucky that she had Jake there to keep her sane, because she would literally go crazy if there was no-one to talk to about the mess that was happening in front of her eyes.

* * *

Lucas finished pouring orange juice into a second glass and put it in front of Haley where she was sitting at the table.

"Hales... not that I'm not really glad to see you... But what are you doing here?" Lucas said as he sat down.

Haley studied her orange juice... she wished it was something stronger right now to stop the butterflies in her stomach.

"I came back because I made a mistake..." She said finally.

"I never should have gone on tour and left Nathan."

"I never should have told him that we were over and to move on with his life."

"I want him back Luke." She finished, taking a big gulp of orange juice.

Lucas grinned.

"You should have seen him Hales... he's been miserable without you."

Haley looked down at the table.

"He didn't seem so miserable tonight..." She said quietly.

Lucas was confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Haley took a deep breath.

"I went to the apartment." She said. "And when he answered the door, he had no shirt on and a huge grin on his face."

Lucas stared at her, not sure what to say... maybe Nathan had been a little happier lately... in fact, the other day at basketball practice, he was in a really upbeat mood.

Lucas had been so fixed on trying to think of a way to make Nathan happier that he hadn't even noticed that he had got there by himself.

"The smiled disappeared as soon as he saw me..." Haley continued sadly.

"That's understandable though Hales..." Lucas said, putting a hand on Haley's arm reassuringly.

"He might need some time to get over the shock of you just turning up."

Haley smiled, reassured.

"You're right." She said. "He's coming over here tomorrow to talk..."

Lucas nodded.

"Good..." He said. "You should sleep, you look beat."

Haley nodded. "I am."

Haley and Lucas both got up at the same time and Lucas pulled her in for another hug.

"I'm glad you're here Hales." He said.

"Me too..." She replied into his shoulder.

* * *

Brooke woke up the next morning with her back against Nathan's chest, his arms wrapped around her stomach.

She didn't want to move because she knew that when Nathan woke up he'd be going over to talk to Haley.

So she just lay there, enjoying the feel of Nathan's strong chest against her back.

She knew it wasn't that fair for her to not want Nathan to go over and talk to Haley... but she just didn't want things to change.

She and Nathan were good. They had just defined their... relationship... and... it seemed like he was slowly getting over Haley...

And then she turned up.

Brooke couldn't help feeling a little resentment towards her friend.

Haley had the chance to be with Nathan and she had pushed him away.

Brooke didn't think it was fair for her to come and just claim him back now.

Brooke closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into Nathan's hold.

* * *

Haley was already sitting in the kitchen the next morning when Lucas got up. Karen had been fine with Haley staying over and she had had a sleepless night on the couch, worrying about what she was going to say to Nathan when she saw him.

Lucas sat down at the table and smiled at his best friend.

"It's going to be Ok Hales... he's your husband... he loves you." He said.

Haley tried to smile.

"You didn't see his face yesterday Luke." She said, uncertain.

Lucas just smiled.

"Just talk to him..."

Haley smiled back.

But the butterflies in her stomach were fluttering around like crazy.

* * *

When Nathan finally woke up he just lay in his bed, enjoying the feeling of Brooke against him.

Brooke turned around when she felt him move.

"Hey..." She smiled.

"Hey." He smiled back, pulling her in tight for a hug.

Nathan knew he should be heading over to Lucas's to talk to Haley, but for that moment he was happy just lying in bed with Brooke.

* * *

Haley wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans later that morning when she heard a knock at the door at Karen's.

She opened the door and let Nathan in.

"Hey..." She said uncertainly.

Nathan walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

Luckily, Karen and Lucas had both gone out so they had the house to themselves to talk things over.

Haley sat down opposite him, not sure what to say.

Nathan stared down at the table.

"So... you're back for good now?" He asked, almost cuttingly.

Haley looked down at the table.

"Yeah... I wanted to come back and work things out with you... I want to get back together Nathan."

Nathan looked up for the first time since entering the kitchen, his eyes hard.

"Well, see that's the thing Haley. I don't." He said finally.

"You walked out on me. But I didn't give up on you, I came to try and get you to come home but you said no."

"You told me to move on with my life."

"So I did."

"Now you're here and you expect me to just drop everything and take you back?"

That made Haley look up.

"Nathan I... what do you mean drop everything?"

"Have you... have you met someone else?"

Nathan kept her gaze, his eyes still hard.

"I just did what you told me to." Nathan said, getting up to leave.

"What... move on?" Haley asked with tears in her eyes.

"No... I'm happy." He said, walking out of the kitchen.

Haley stared after him speechless, letting the tears fall down her face.


	17. Chapter 17

**Wow, this feels weird to be submittng this chapter after such a long time! I'm so sorry fans of this story, I have been without the internet since Christmas because I moved and so I haven't had the chance to submit any new chapters. I hope you guys remember this story and still like it, because I have a few chapters ready to submit for ya's...( As usual, please feel free to let me know what you think. ( Xx **

Haley was still sitting at the kitchen table with tears streaming down her face half an hour later when Lucas walked back into the kitchen, a basketball in his hands.

As soon as he saw Haley's face the basketball dropped out of his hands and he rushed to her side.

"Hales what happened?" he asked, sitting down at the table next to her.

Haley looked up.

"He hates me." She said simply.

Lucas didn't know what to say.

He had no idea what Nathan had said to Haley.

But by the look on her face told him it wasn't anything good.

Lucas pulled Haley towards him and held her close, vowing to go see Nathan and see what the hell was going on in that head of his.

Nathan had needed to get out of Lucas's kitchen exactly when he had.

Because he didn't trust himself not to have looked into Haley's eyes, at the girl that had stolen his heart and keep saying those things that had killed him to say as much as he knew they killed her to hear.

Nathan kept walking, trying to clear his head.

Because at that moment it was very messed up;

He couldn't deny that the last few months with Brooke had been great, he had no idea how he could have got through them without her.

But seeing Haley there.

Hearing her tell him that she loved him and wanted to get back together had made his heart literally ache.

Because the truth was he loved Haley.

He always had, even when he tried to hate her, a part of him just couldn't.

Nathan kicked a rock that was on the footpath in front of him, pretending that it was his own head.

Why was this so hard?

It should be as simple as Haley was back so he was obviously meant to get back together...

But then Nathan wasn't sure if that was what he really wanted.

Sure, he loved her. And when they got married he was prepared to spend the rest of his life with her.



But she had left.

She had walked out on him; and that's not something you just get over.

Nathan stopped and turned around.

He had just had the strongest urge to go back to his apartment and see Brooke.

Brooke was sitting on Nathans bed, just thinking when he burst through the door a few minutes later.

Brooke left it a few seconds before jumping off the bed and going out to the lounge to greet him.

Nathan was standing inside the open door looking more lost than Brooke had ever seen anyone look.

She rushed forward and Nathan wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her as if he hadn't seen her in years.

"How did it go?" Brooke asked quietly into Nathan's chest.

Brooke felt Nathan's chest tighten in what she suspected as his way of saying he didn't really want to talk about it.

Proving her suspicions, Nathan just loosened the hug and kissed Brooke deeply.

"It doesn't matter." He said.

"She doesn't matter anymore. I'm happy here with you."

Nathan held Brooke close again.

"All that matters is right now." He said into her hair.

Brooke could hear something off in Nathan's voice, but before she could try and decipher what she thought it meant something caught her eye over Nathan's shoulder.

Lucas.

Lucas couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing.

After he'd made sure that Haley was ok he had decided to go over to Nathan's and see what was going on with him.

The last thing he had ever expected to see was Nathan with someone else.

Especially not Brooke.

Lucas felt his blood boil.

How could they do this?

Haley was at his house crying her eyes out because she felt like she's lost her husband and he was here making out with the girl that Lucas loved?!

Lucas saw Brooke's eyes meet his and for a split second he saw in them something that he hadn't seen in Brooke's eyes for a long time.

Love.

Then when she realized it was him, they instantly filled with a mix of shock and... Shame?

"Lucas...?" She croaked out.

Nathan, his hand still on Brooke's back instantly spun around, his face at a loss of colour.

"Luke..." He managed to say.

Lucas looked back at him, eyes hard.

Then he turned around and walked away from the apartment.

Nathan shot Brooke a remorseful look and then ran after his brother.

"Lucas wait!" He yelled.

Lucas stopped and turned around.

"Why? So you can explain to me why Haley is at home crying because she thinks you hate her while you're here making out with Brooke?" he practically yelled.

Nathan felt his own blood boil at that.

"Now wait a minute Luke." He said. "I think that your forgetting the fact that... she left me!"

"She walked out on me!"

Lucas kicked a rock that was in front of him in anger.

"So what? You moved onto the next available girl?"

Nathan felt like he could punch Lucas in the face with that comment.

"Brooke and I aren't like that Lucas, it's different."

Lucas scoffed and looked at the ground.

Something dawned on Nathan.

But this isn't even about Haley is it?" He said.

Lucas looked up, his eyes hard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

Nathan nodded.

"This is about Brooke isn't it?"

"You don't want her or treat her right when you have her, but you can't stand anyone else being with her."

Lucas just stared at Nathan.

"Don't you get it Lucas, you had your chance with her and you fucked it up!"

"You cheated on her."

Lucas scoffed again. "And what you're doing to Haley is so much better?"

"It's completely different." Nathan replied. "Haley and I are practically over."

"And anyway, this isn't about Haley and you know it! You'll always love Brooke and you can't stand the fact that I might actually treat her better than you did, which you know, wouldn't actually be that hard!"

Lucas felt like he was about to punch Nathan but held back.

"You really think that you and Brooke are going to work?" Lucas yelled finally.

"Why wouldn't we?" Nathan asked, daring Lucas to answer.

"Because!" Lucas yelled. "You will always love Haley!"

"Feelings like the ones that you two had for each other don't just go away because you found someone else!"

Nathan groaned. "Why do I feel like we're talking about you again?"

Lucas groaned back. "Whatever Nathan!" he said.

"Do what you want; I just don't want to see Brooke get hurt."

Lucas turned away from Nathan and started walking down the street.

"You didn't seem to care when you guys were going out!" Nathan yelled after him.

But Lucas just kept walking.

Brooke was still standing near the door when Nathan stormed back in a few minutes later.

Nathan sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands.

Brooke sat next to him and put her hand reassuringly on his knee.

Nathan looked up and gave her a weak smile at her touch.



"Nate... you.. We don't have any reason to feel guilty." She said quietly.

Nathan looked up.

"I know..." He said.

But that fact didn't stop the remorseful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Lucas walked the whole way back to his house in a really bad mood; he could have killed Nathan for putting him in this situation,

He didn't know whether to tell Haley what he had just discovered or not, he knew that it would kill her and it wasn't his place to tell her.

But then after the things that Nathan had yelled at him he almost wanted to tell Haley just so that Nathan wouldn't be as smug as Lucas saw him to be about the situation.

He understood that Nathan was still hurt that Haley had left him and walked out on their marriage, but then he also could see how sorry Haley was and how keen she was to try again.

Lucas walked into his kitchen where Haley was, making a coffee.

She smiled at him when she saw him come in.

"Hey Luke." She said. "I'm so sorry about this morning; I should have expected Nathan not to take me back straight away, I'll just have to stick it out until he does decide to take me back."

Lucas just stood in the doorway and smiled faintly.

After thinking about nothing else all day, Nathan knew there was only one thing he could do to stop the feeling in his stomach; tell Haley the truth about him and Brooke.

If Lucas hadn't already.

Nathan started walking to Lucas's house, figuring he's chance it that Haley would be the only one home.

So when Nathan knocked on the door and Karen answered he was taken back a bit.

"Uh... hey Ms Rowe... Is Haley here." He stammered.

Karen smiled. "Sure Nathan, I'll just get her for you."

Nathan nodded and a few minuted later Haley came to the door.

"Hey..." She said uncertainly, obviously unsure whether it was a good thing to see Nathan standing at the door or not.

"Can we go for a walk?" Nathan asked, not unkindly.

Haley nodded and followed him down the driveway.

They walked in silence until they got to the boardwalk, then Haley turned to Nathan;

"So what did you want to talk about?" She asked softly.

Nathan sighed inwardly and tried to figure out in his head how he was going to say what he was about to.

"Uh..." He started. "Well you know when I came to you in New York and wanted to try and fix things between us?"

"And you told me to try and move on with my life and be happy?"

Haley grimaced but nodded.

"I know I said that Nathan, but I was in a different place then and..." she started to say when he cut her off.

"But that's what I'm trying to tell you Haley..." Nathan said.

"I moved on... and I'm happy."

Haley felt like she's been hit in the guts and could barely breathe.

"You moved on?" She choked out.

"Who to?"

Nathan looked down, this was the part that he had been regretting; telling Haley that he had not only moved on, but to one of her best friends.

"Uh..." he started.

"After you left I was a mess Haley, I barely talked to anyone, if I did it was only to say things that I knew would hurt them. I was in pain Haley, and I wanted everyone else to feel how I was feeling."

Nathan took a deep breath and continued.

"But one person broke through the walls that I put up around myself, they let me know they were there for me, whatever I needed and they really got me through those days."

Haley felt her whole face drain as she realized who Nathan was talking about.

"Brooke!" She cried, incredulously.

"You and Brooke are dating?!"

Nathan expected a reaction like the one he was getting, but it still threw him a bit.

He looked up at Haley nervously.

"Um.. I don't know if you'd call it dating... we're kind of in the early stages of something..." He said.

Haley just stared at him for a beat and then walked back into the house and slammed the door.

Nathan stared at the closed door, his heart pounding.

As soon as Haley walked back into the house Lucas could tell that Nathan had just told her about him and Brooke.

He walked over to the door and put his arms around his stunned best friend.

"I'm sorry Haley." He said into her hair.

"You knew?" Haley's muffled reply came.

"Only for about a day..." Lucas answered.

Haley nodded slightly, tears running gently down her face.

Lucas held Haley's head against his chest and put his chin on her head.

Brooke couldn't sleep that night. She's stayed at Nathan's because they had been up all night talking about the Haley situation and she was pretty sick of thinking about it, because all she felt when she did was guilt.

If it was the other way around she knew that she would hate Haley so she had no idea what Haley must be thinking at that moment.

Brooke turned over and stared at Nathan's back.

How could she feel so bad about something and someone that made her feel so good?


	18. Chapter 18

Brooke walked down the hallway in a daze, there was so much going through her head, suddenly she felt two arms circle around her waist and she was spun into Nathan's strong hold, he grinned at her and then kissed her deeply, right there in the middle of the hallway. Even though her head was having second thoughts about being so public she gave in and let herself fall into Nathan. Nathan broke their kiss a few seconds later and grinned happily, but the smile immediately left his face when he looked past Brooke... straight into the eyes of Haley.

Haley couldn't believe it... was he doing this deliberately to hurt her? Here she was... innocently minding her business... and she has to walk in on Nathan sticking his tongue down another girls throat! But then she saw his eye... there was only thing you could call the emotion in his eyes... hurt. Then something dawned on Haley; maybe this wasn't about Brooke, or him moving on... maybe Nathan was just punishing her; hurting her as much as she'd unintentionally hurt him. Haley watched as Nathan sent her one last hurt but almost angry look and took Brooke's hand in his and walked away from her, down the hallway, never looking back once.

When Nathan was around the corner he felt his heart return to its normal heart beat speed, seeing Haley watching him and Brooke had made his heart lurch, the pain that he had seen in her eyes had made him remember how hurt he had felt when she had left him and it had made him angry, angry enough to grab Brooke's hand and walk away from her.

He was really angry though, what right did she have to be hurt after she had made the decision to end their marriage, the decision to leave him. Nathan squeezed Brookes hand as guilt filled his heart, why was he even thinking about that... about Haley... he was with Brooke now, none of that other stuff mattered... so why did his heart still ache whenever he saw Haley?

Haley got through her next few classes and as soon as the bell rang that afternoon she was out of there, she flew out the door, straight into Peyton.

"Hey." She said warmly, stepping back to talk to her.

Peyton looked at her. "Hey." She replied coolly.

Haley groaned inwardly. Not another person who hated her!

"Where have you been?" Haley continued, ignoring the fact that it was obvious Peyton wasn't too keen to talk to her. "I haven't seen you too much since I got back."

Peyton raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you're back? I just thought you were touring through here or something." She said cuttingly.

Haley closed her eyes for second before replying. "Peyton... I came back for Nathan... I'm going to get him back." She said.

Peyton narrowed her eyes before answering. "But Haley... have you ever considered that Nathan doesn't want you back?"



Haley looked straight at Peyton, her eyes glistening. "All the time... it's the thing I'm afraid of the most."

Then she turned and left, leaving Peyton staring after her, at a loss at what to say.

Brooke was sitting in her room that night holding the pieces of Nathan and Haley's wedding board in her hands, she put the bit together that had the photo of them at their wedding together. She couldn't pretend that it didn't cross her mind every time that she kissed Nathan, that he was legally still married to one of her best friends. She almost wished sometimes that he and Haley didn't have a history, that they had known each other forever and had just succumb to their feelings for each other. But Brooke knew that the circumstances would be completely different, Nathan wouldn't be the man that he was today, he would probably still be the egotistical asshole that he was before he met Haley...

And if he hadn't of been with Haley and she hadn't left him... she never would have been there for him and they would have never got so close and fallen for each other. Deep inside, Brooke knew that part of the reason that Nathan fell for her was because he was vulnerable and needed someone to make him feel better, but as he'd told her countless times, that definitely wasn't the whole reason at all... they had just unintentionally fallen for each other, neither of them had planned it; it had just happened that way.

But Brooke couldn't help the sick feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach when she looked at the wedding wall that she had helped make for Nathan and Haley at the time. Things were so different from then to now... now that her and Nathan had got together, she couldn't imagine it any other way. It was a bit unconventional, seeing as he had been with both of her best friends, but it was the way that it was, and she liked it.

She just wished that she didn't feel guilty every time she thought about Haley.

Haley was out walking later that night and she inadvertently found herself down at the waterfront, at the table, her and Nathan's spot.

As Haley got nearer to the table her heart started beating very fast, there was someone that looked a lot like Nathan sitting at the table.

Haley reached the table and sat down opposite him, not saying anything.

Nathan didn't even look up, so Haley just sat there, in silence.

It felt like there were there for an hour, just sitting in silence, when Nathan finally looked up at her, his eyes full of pain.

"Nathan..." Haley started to say.

But Nathan quietly interrupted her. "I was hurt Haley, when you left, when you broke up with me in New York, I was hurt, but I still missed you, I still do, every day."



Haley looked back at him, for the first time in ages, hope filled her.

"I miss you too..." She said gently. "More than you could imagine." Putting her hand over his closed ones.

Nathan's tough exterior he was trying desperately to keep up faltered a bit at her touch.

"Haley..." he croaked, closing his eyes for a second.

Haley sighed and took her hand away.

"I understand that you don't love me anymore, that you've moved on..."

Nathan looked at her as she stood up to go.

"Always and forever." He said quietly, almost too quietly for Haley to hear.

Haley looked up with a start, not sure if she's heard Nathan right... that was their little thing they had and used to say to each other all the time, It was the last thing Haley expected to here though.

"I will always love you Haley." Nathan continued, making Haley's heart fill with hope again. "I just don't know if I'll ever trust you again.'

Haley felt herself sink, just as fast as she had been filled with hope.

But she understood, how could she blame him? Guilt filled her every time she thought of how much she's hurt him.

So she just sat back down and sat with Nathan in silence until the sun came up the next morning.


	19. Chapter 19

Nathan seemed distant when he came to pick Brooke up for school the next morning. He kissed her good morning as usual and smiled ant her in the same way he did every morning, but something was different today, there was something missing in his eyes.

It made Brooke feel a bit uneasy, she didn't want to think too much into things, but she had been hurt that way before, having someone she loved cheat on her.

But Brooke knew Nathan wouldn't do that.. Not after he'd been cheated on himself.

She smiled at him and took his hand in hers, seeing if she got a reaction out of him.

At her touch, something inside of Nathan seemed to click and he turned to her with the warm smile that she had gotten used to over the last couple of weeks.

Brooke felt relief fill her as she smiled back.

Nathan was walking down the hallway later that day when he saw Haley walking towards him. Instead of ignoring her like he usually did, Nathan found himself actually smiling timidly at her.

Haley obviously took his smile as an invitation, because she approached him hesitantly, smiling in the same way.

"Hey..." she said.

"Hi." He replied, not fully looking her in the eyes.

Haley sighed inwardly, she had thought they had made some progress last night, but Nathan still couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"How are you?" She asked, hoping to get just a bit of conversation out of him.

Nathan looked at her for a beat.

"Are you going?" He asked.

"What?" she replied, confused.

Nathan pointed to the wall and Haley looked over to see a poster, advertising that year's prom that was on next week.

Haley thought back to last year when they had been prom queen and king, she had just singing with Chris and they had done a duet... but she hadn't told Nathan about it.

Nathan had planned a huge night for her, complete with a horse and carriage, corsage and dinner, but Haley had barely made it to any of them because she was singing in the studio with Chris. Remembering how much she had hurt him that night made Haley feel really bad. And now it was time for this year's prom, and she didn't even have him to make it up to him.

Haley turned back to Nathan to try and salvage the conversation, but he was gone.



Nathan was sitting on his couch watching TV that night when there was a knock at his door, he got up and answered it to find Brooke standing there, looking casually sexy in a pair of tight jeans and a white tank top.

""Hey..." he said huskily as he kissed her and let her in.

Brooke's heart pounded slightly faster as Nathan kissed her neck sensually.

Nathan leaned on Brooke slightly as he kissed her, but it was too much weight for her small frame to carry so she toppled down onto the couch, bringing Nathan's strong body down on top of her.

Brooke giggled and Nathan crushed his lips against hers slyly, using one hand to hold himself up and the other to hold her face.

Brooke broke the kiss and smiled up at him.

Nathan stared back down at her, it was weird; he had never actually took full notice of Brooke's beauty before they had started something. He had always though she was hot, there was no denying that... but now her saw something else, when he looked at her, he didn't see the hot teenage girl that he had had sex with one time randomly when he was mad at Peyton and was having sex with everybody. But now he looked at her and saw a girl, a girl a lot more fragile that most people would think, and Nathan didn't see the Brooke he used to see, the one Brooke wanted the world to see; the confident , carefree girl. He saw the real Brooke; who was still the beauty that the world saw, but in her eyes, Nathan saw pain, the sort of pain that you can't see unless you really know the person, and know what to look for, the sort that Nathan knew his own eyes held.

Nathan smiled down at Brooke's laughing face and felt a warm sensation come over him and before he knew it he had opened his mouth. "Brooke, will you go to prom with me?"

Brooke laughed at he's random blurt out... but smiled up at him.

"I'd love to..." She said, putting her hand on the back of Nathan's head and pulling him down towards her, kissing him sweetly.

Nathan grinned into her kiss, he was determined to be happy at this year's prom, and judging on the smile on Brooke's face when he asked her, it looked like it was going to be a good night.

Lucas and Haley sat in silence on Lucas' couch that night, both thinking to themselves.

So when Haley started talking she made Lucas jump slightly. "He's going to go to the prom with Brooke you know." She said.

Lucas recovered and nodded. "Yeah, probably." He replied, with a shrug, pretending it didn't bother him as much as Haley knew it did.

"I wish I could go and just... get him to see that he doesn't belong with Brooke." She said.



Lucas raised his eyebrows. "What's stopping you?" he asked inquisitively.

Haley looked at him. "What you mean other than having no dress or for that matter, date?" She said.

"You can easily buy a dress." Lucas said. "And as for the other problem... Haley James Scott... will you go to prom with me?"

Haley laughed until she looked at Lucas's reasonably serious face. "Are you serious?" She asked.

Lucas nodded. "What have you got to lose?" he said seriously.

Haley thought about it for a second, what had she got to lose? Things with Nathan couldn't get any worse, and maybe her being at the prom would make him think about what he was doing with Brooke, maybe he'd remember what it was like to be with her.

Peyton lay her head down on Jakes chest that night. She was so happy right now, she couldn't believe how much Jake meant to her. Jake smiled down at her and Peyton could tell he felt the same.

Peyton traced a line down the middle of Jake's chest and smiled back at him. "Any chance you want to go to prom with me?" She blurted out, laying her other hand flat against his.

Jake smiled and nodded. "There's a hug chance." He said with a grin.

Peyton grinned back and threaded her fingers through Jake's.

The next afternoon Brooke and Peyton met up to go shopping for prom dresses. After a lot of looking around, Peyton opted for a really long yellow dress and Brooke went for a shorter red one.

"So you and Jake..." Brooke said as she passed the girl at the counter the money for her dress.

Peyton grinned. "And you and... Nathan..." Peyton looked at Brooke as she trailed off... " Ok so that sounds a little weird." She said as Brooke thanked the sales clerk and took the bag with her dress in it off the counter.

Brooke laughed. "I know... it feels weird too... this is Nathan... a year ago, if you told me that I'd be in a relationship with Nathan Scott right now, I would have laughed in your face and thought you were crazy." She said.

Peyton laughed. "It's funny how things work out..."

"Do you think Haley will come to prom?" Brooke asked quietly.

Peyton looked down and nodded. "Her and Lucas are going together." She said.

Brooke nodded. "I could see that happening." She said.



It was Peyton's turn to nod. "But don't worry about it" She said, we'll have so much fun we will forget that they're even there."

Brooke nodded, but she had an uneasy feeling in her stomach that Haley wasn't prepared to give up on Nathan that easily.


End file.
